f * 




Book <.L/— 3 



Author 



Title 



Imprint 



16—47372-1 GPO 



A Challenge to the JOHNS HOPKINS Dniversity 



ONE HUNDRED PROOFS 



THAT 



THE EARTH 



XS 



NOT A GLOBE. 



IDedicsited. to I^ICH-AJEIID .^^. IFIE^OCTOI^, Esq.. 
"The Greatest Astronomer ot the Age," 



By TTM. CARPENTER, 

Referee for John Hampden, Esq., in the CelebrcUed Scientlfie Wager, m 1870; 

Author of '■(Jommon Sense' on Astronomy, {London, 1866;) Proctor'' i 

Planet Earth; WoMace's Wonderful Water; The 

Dduswn of {he Day, &c., &c. 



'tPRIG&T, DOWNRIGHT, STRMGHTFORWSRD." 



BALTIMORE: 

Printed and Published by the Author, 

No. 71 Chew Street, 

1885. 



* TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. lire CoDies, Postage UV '" Dollar. 
5'S Edition: 8+^^ ~ 1- 



INDEX. 



I . 



1 ^The aeronrAit sees for himself. 

2 "'Standi .ig water leyel. ,'" 

3 SiiF^ e3'oi;s':";^allowaijce." ., 

4 Flaw of Kivers — ihe Nile: '^ " 



5 Lighthouses — Cape Hatteras. 

6 The sea-shore. — " Coming up." 
' 7 A trip down Chesapeake Bay.. 

8 The model globe useless. 

9 The sailor's level charts, 

10 The mariners' compaiee. 

11 The soilthern circumference". 
1 3 Circumjjayigation of the Earth. 

1 3 Meridians are straight lines. 

14 Parallels of latitude — circles.. 

15 Sailing down and underneath. 

16 Distance round the South. 

17 Levelness required by man, 

1 8 The ' ' level ' '.#f the astronoi a ers- 

19 Half the globe is 'cut olf, how 1 

20 No "up" or "down" in nature ? 

21 The "spherical loadstone." 

22 No falsehoods wanted l> . 
^3 No proof of '' rotundity." 
^4 A '^most complete" failure. 

25 The first Atlantic Cable, 

26 Earth's *' curvature." 

27 "Which end goes down ? 

28 A "hill of water." 

29 Characteristics of a globe. 

30 Horizon — level with the eye. 

31 Much too small a globe. 
'32 Vanishing point of objects. 

33 We are not ^'^ fastened on."' 

34 Our "antipodes." — a delusion. 

35 Horizon a level line. 

36 Chesapeake Bay by night. 

37 Six months day and night. 

38 The " Midnight Suu." 

39 Sun moves round the Earth. 

40 Suez Canal — 100 miles — level. 

41 The " true level." — a curve. 

42 Projectiles — firing east or west. 

43 Bodies. thrown upwards. 

44 Firing in opposite direction. 

45 Astronomer Koyal of England. 

46 An utterly meaningless theory. 
'^ 47 Professor Proctor's cylinder. 
■%' 18 Proctor's false perspective. 

11) Motion of the clouds, 

ij') Scriptural proof — a plane. 



51 
52 
■5-3; 
54' 
55 
56 
-57 
58 
59 
60-; 
61'^ 
o2 
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
-69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 

m. 

76 
77 
78 
79 
80 
81 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 
87 
88 
89 
90 
91 
92 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
99 
100 



The " Standing 0|4er." 
^lore ice: in^he south. ■■ 
Bull's accelerated pJace, south. 
Balloons'not^eft behind. '""^ 
The Moon's beams are cold. 
The Sun and Moon. ' 
Not Earth's shadow at all, 
Rotating and revolving. ^^ 
Proctor's big mistake. ■\ 

Sun's distance from Earth. 
No trufe,'' i^ieasuriug-rod." 
Sailing "round" a thing. 
Telescopes—" hill of water. 
The laws of optics — Glaish 
"Dwelling" upon error. 
Ptolemy's predictions. 
Canal in China— 700 miles. 
MF^ijOckyer ' s false logic;. 
Be^glrly alternatives. 
Mr. Lockyer's suppositions. 
North Star seen from S. lat 
" Walls not parallel 1" 
Pendulum experiments. 
" Delightful uncertainty." 
-Outrageous calculations. - ■■ 
J. R. Young's Navigation. 
" Tumbling over." 
Circumnavigation — south. 
A disc — not a sphere. 
Earth's "motion" unprove 
Moon's motion east to west -^Yi 
All on the wrong track. 
No Kleridianal "degrees.' 
Depression of North Star 
Elvers floWing up-h'ill? 
100 miles Th five seconci 
Miserable makeshifts. 
What holds the people 
Luminous oljefcts. 
Practice against theory. 
Unscientific classification. 
G. B. Airy's " suppositioLS." 
Astronomers give up theor}^. 
School-room " proofs" false. 
Pictorial proof — Earth a plane. 
Laws of perspective ignored. 
" Ration ahsuppositions." 
It is the star that moves. 
Hair-splitting calculation. 
How "time" is lost or gained. 



ae 
'9, 
ad 

7e 



id 
m 
re 
^" 
11 
id 

ill 

)S, 
re 



'^1\ 




OME HUNDRED PROOFg 



THAT 



L 



THE EARTH 



IS 



NOT A GLOBE 



IDecaj-ca-teca. to :EI. -^^. lE^IE^OO'TOIc^, lEsci. 



BY WM. CARPENTER, 



UPRIGHT, DOWNRIGHT, STRAIGHTFORWARD." 



[Copyright Secured.] 




BALTIMORE: 
Printed aistd Published by the Author, 

No. 71 Chew Street. 
1885 r 



5b 



INTRODUCTION. On. (, ^ fj^' 



y 0- 



"PARALLAX," the Founder of the Zetetic Philosophy, is dead; 
and it noAV becomes the duty of those, especially, who knew him personally 
and who labored with him in the cause of Truth against Error, to begin, 
anew, the work which is left in their hands. Dr. Samuel B. Eowbotham 
finished his earthly labours, in England, the country of his birth, December 
23, 1884, at the age of 89. He was, certainly, one of the most gifted of 
men: and though his labours as a public lecturer were confined within 
the limits of the British Islands his published work is known all over the 
world and is destined to live and be republished when books on the now / 
popular system of philosophy will be considered in no other light tha-n 
as bundles of waste paper. For several years did "Parallax" spread -a 
knowledge of the facts which form the basis of his system without tte 
slightest recognition from the newspaper press until, in January, 18 19, 
the people were informed by the *' Wilts Independent" that lectures hfid 
been delivered by " a gentleman adopting the name of * Parallax,' toprofe 
modern astronomy unreasonable and contradictory," that *' great skili ' 
was shown by the lecturer, and that he proved himself to be " thoroughly 
acquainted with the subject in all its bearings." Such was the beginniilg 
' — the end will not be so easily described. The Truth will always fiud 
advocates — men who care not a snap of their fingers for the mere opinion 
of the world, whatever form it may take, whilst they know that they ai'e 
the masters of the situation and that Reason is King ! In 1867, '-Parallai" 
was described as " a paragon of courtesy, good temper, and masterly skill 
in debate." The author of the following hastily-gotten-up pages is proud 
of having spent many a pleasant hour in the company of Samuel Birl^y 
Rowbotham. 

A complete sketch of the " Zetetic Philosophy" is impossible in a sm^l? 
pamphlet ; and many things necessarily remain unsaid which, perhaps, 
should have been touched upon, but which would to some extent haYe 
interfered with the plan laid down— the bringing together, in a concise 
form, " One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is not a Globe." Much maY 
be gathered, indirectly, from the arguments in these pages, as to the real 
nature of the Earth on which we live and of the heavenly bodies whi^h 
were created for tjs. The reader is requested to be patient in this matter | 
and not expect a whole flood of light to burst in upon hinj at once, thro«-igh \ 
the dense clouds of opposition and prejudice which hang all around. Old 
ideas have to be gotten rid of, by some people, before they can entertain 
the new ; and this will especially be the case in the matter of the Sun, 
about which we are taught, by Mr. Proctor, as follows: "The glo^e of 
the Sun is so much larger than that of the Earth that no lessthim 
1,250,000 globes as large as the Earth would be wanted to make up to- 
gether a globe as large as the Sun.' Whereas, we know that, as it is de- 
monstrated that the Sun moves round over the Earth, its size is propor- 
tionately less. We can then easily understand that Day and Night, and 
the Seasons are brought about by his daily circuits round in a course con- 
centric with the North, diminishing in their extent to the end of June, 
and increasing until the end of December, the equatorial region being the 
area covered by the Sun's mean motion. If, then, these pages serve but to 
arouse the spirit of enquiry, the author will be satisfied. The right handj 
of fellowship in this good work is extended, in turn, to Mr. J. Lindgren,' 
90 South First Street, Brooklyn, E. D., N. ¥., Mr. M. C. Flanders, lec- 
turer, Kendall, Orleans County, N. Y., and to Mr. John Hampden, editor 
of *' Parallax" (a new journal), Cosmos House, Balham, Surrey, England. 



ONE EHKBSE© PS@©fS 

THAT 

EASTl m HOT A GIOIB. 



If man uses the senses wHcli God has given him, he gains linow- 
ledge; if he uses them not, he remains ignorant. Mr, R. A. Proctor, 
who has heen called "the greatest astronomer of the age," says: 
'* The Earth on which we live and move seems to be flat." Now, he 
does not mean that it seems to be flat to the man wdio shuts his eyes in 
the face of nature, or, who is not in the full possession of his senses: 
no, but to the average, common sense, wide-awake, thinking man. 
He continues: "that is, though there are hills and valleys on its 
surface, yet it seems to extend on all sides in one and the same gen- 
eral level." Again, he says: " There seems nothing to prevent us 
from travelling as far as we please in any direction towards the circle 
all round us, called the horizon^ where the sky seems to meet the 
level of the Earth." "The level of the Earth !'' Mr, Proctor knows 
right well what he is talking about, for the book from which we take 
his words, " Lessons in Elementary Astronomy," was written, he telJs 
us, " to guard the beginner against the captious objections which have 
from time to time been urged against accepted astronomical theories." 
The things which are to be defended, then, are these *' accepted astron- 
omical theories !" It is not truth that is to be defended against the as- 
saults of error— Oh, no: simply "theories," right or wrong, because 
they have been "accepted!" Accepted! Why, they have been ac- 
cepted because it was not thought to be worth while to look at them. 
Sir John Herschel says : " We shall take for granted, from the outset, 
the Copernican system of the world," He did not care whether it 
was the right system or a wrong one, or he Avould not have done that: 
he would have looked into it. But, forsooth, the theories are ac-. 
cepted, and, of course, the men who have accepted them are the men 
who will naturally defend them if they can. So, Richard A. Proctor 
tries his hand; and we shall see how it fails him. His book was pub- 
lished without any date to it at all. But there is internal evidence 
which will fix that matter closely enough. We read of the carrying 
out of the experiments of the celebrated scientist, Alfred li. Wallace, 
to prove the "convexity" of the surface of standing water, which ex- 
periments were conducted in March, 1870, for the purpose of winning 
Five Hundred Pounds from John Hampden, Esq., of Swindon, Eng- 
land, who had wagered that sum upon the conviction that the said 
surface is always a level one. Mr. Proctor says : "The experiment 
was lately tried in a very amusing way." In or about the year 1870, 
then, Mr. Proctor wrote his book; and, instead of being ignorant of 
the details of the experiment, he knew all about them. And whether 
the " amusing" part of the business was the fact that Mr, Wallace 



4 OXE htt:n^deed peoofs, 

wrongfully claimed the five-hundred pounds and got it, or that Mr. 

Hampden was the yictim of the false claim, it is hard to say. The 
'* way" in which the experiment was carried out is, to all intents and 
purposes, just the way in which Mr. Proctor states that it *' can be 
tried." He says, however, that the distance involved in the experi- 
ment "should be three or four miles." Now, Mr. Wallace took up 
six miles in his experiment, and was unable to prove that there is 
any "curvature," though he claimed the money and got it; surely 
it would be "amusing" for anyone to expect to be able to show 
the " curvature of the earth" in three or four miles, as Mr. Proctor 
suggests! Nay, it is ridiculous. But "the greatest astronomer of 
the age" says the thing can be done! And he gives a diagram: 
** Showing how the roundness of the Earth can be proved by means 
of tJiree boats on a large sheet of water." (Ttiree or four miles.) 
But, though the accepted astronomical theories be scattered to the 
winds, we charge Mr. Proctor either that he has never made the 
experiment with the three boats, or, that, if he has, the experiment 
did NOT prove what he says it will. Accepted theories, indeed! 
Are they to be bolstered up with absurdity and falsehood? Why, if 
it were possible to show the tv/o ends of a four-mile stretch of 
water to be on a level, with the centre portion of that water bulged 
up, the surface of the Earth would be a series of four-mile curves ! 

But Mr. Proctor says : " We can set three boats in a line on the 
water, as at A, B, and 0, (Fig. 7). Then, if equal masts are placed in 
these boats, and we place a telescope, as shown, so that when we look 
through it we see the tops of the masts of A and 0, we find the top of 
the mast B is above the line of sight." Now, here is the point: Mr. 
Proctor either knows or he ought to know that we shall not find 
auything of the sort I If he has ever tried the experiment, he knows 
that the three masts will range in a straight line, just as common sense 
tells us they will. If he has not tried the experiment, he should have 
tried it, or have paid attention to the details of experiments by those 
who have tried similar ones a score of times and again. Mr. Proctor 
may take either horn of the dilemma he pleases: he is just as wrong as 
a man can be, either way. He mentions no names, but he says: " A 
person had written a book, in which he said that he had tried such 
an experiment as the above, and had found that the surface of the water 
was not curved." That person was "Parallax," the founder of the 
Zetetic Philosophy. He continues-. " Another person seems to have 
believed the first, and became so certain that the Earth is flat as to 
wager a large sum of money that if three boats were placed as in Fig. 
7, the middle one would not be above the line joining the two others." 
That person was John Hampden. And, says Mr. Proctor, "Unfor- 
tunately for him, some one who had more sense agreed to take his 
wager, and, of course, won his money." Now, the "some one who 
had more sense" was Mr. Wallace. And, says Proctor, in continua- 
tion: "He [Hampden?] was rather angry; and it is a strange thing 
that he was not angry with himself for being so foolish, or with the 
person who said he had tried the experiment (and so led him astray), 
but with the person who had won his money !" Here, then, we see 
that Mr. Proctor knows better than to say that the experiments con- 



EARTH IS NOT A GLOBE. O 

ducted by " Parallax*' were things of the imagination only, or that 
a wrong account had been given of them ; and it would be well if he 
knew better than to try to make his readers believe that either one or 
the other of these things is the fact: But, there is the Old Bedford 
Canal now ; and there are ten thousand places where the experiment 
may be tried ! Who, then, are the "foolish" people: those who '^ be- 
lieve" the record of experiments made by searchers after Truth, or 
those who shut their eyes to them, throw a doubt upon the record, 
charge the conductors of the experiments with dishonesty, never con- 
duct similar experiments themselves, and declare the result of such 
experiments to be so and so, when the declaration can be proved to be 
false by any man, with a telescope, in twenty-four hours ? 

Mr. Proctor:— The sphericity of the Earth CANNOT be proved 
in the way in which you tell us it '^can'' be! We tell you to take 
back your words and remodel them on the basis of Truth. Such care- 
less misrepresentations of facts are a disgrace to science — they are the 
disgrace of theoretical science to-day ! Mr. Blackie, in his work on 
" Self Culture," says : "All flimsy, shallow, and superficial work, in 
fact, is a lie, of which a man ought to be ashamed." 

That the Earth is an extended plane, stretched out in all directions 
away from the central North, over which hangs, for ever, the North 
Star, is a fact which all the falsehoods that can be brought to bear 
upon it with their dead weight will never overthrow : it is God's 
Truth the face of which, however, man has the power to smirch all 
over with his unclean hands. Mr. Proctor says: "We learn from as- 
tronomy that all these ideas, natural though they seem, are mistaken.'' 
Man's natural ideas and conclusions and experimental results are, 
then, to be overthrown by — what! By "astronomy?" By a thing 
without a soul — a mere theoretical abstraction, the outcome of the 
dreamer ? Never ! The greatest astronomer of the age is not the man, 
eveti, who can so much as attempt to manage the business. " We 
find," says Mr, Proctor, "that the Earth is not flat, but a globe; not 
fixed, but in very rapid motion; not much larger than the moon, and 
far smaller than the Sun and the greater number of the stars." 

First, then, Mr. Proctor, tell us how you find that the Earth is not 
flat, but a globe ! It does not matter that " we find" it so put down 
in that conglomeration of suppositions which you seek to defend : the 
question is. What is the evidence of it? — where can it be obtained? 
" The Earth on which we live and move seems to be flat," you tell us : 
where, then, is the mistake ? If the Earth seem to be what it is not, 
how are we to trust our senses ? And if it is said that we cannot do 
so, are we to believe it, and consent to be put down lower than the 
brutes? No, sir : we challenge you, as we have done many times be- 
fore, to produce the slightest evidence of the Earth's rotundity, from 
the world of facts around you. You have given to us the statement 
we have quoted, and we have the right to demand a proof; and if 
this is not forthcommg, we have before us the duty of denouncing the 
absurd dogma as worse than an absurdity — as a feaud — and as a 
fraud that flies in the face of divine revelation ! Well, then, Mr. 
Proctor, in demanding a proof of the Earth's rotundity (or the frank 
admission of your errors), we are tempted to taunt you as we tell you 



6 OKE HUNDRED PROOFS, 

that it is utterly out of your power to produce one; and we tell you 
that you do not dare even to lift up your finger to point us to the so- 
called proofs in the school-books of the day, for you know the measure 
of absurdity of which they are composed, and how disgraceful it is to 
allow them to remain as false guides of the youthful mind ! 

Mr. Proctor : we charge you that, whilst you teach the theory of the 
Earth's rotundity and mobility, you Ki^ow that it is a plane ; and here 
is the ground of the charge. In page 7, in your book, you give a di- 
agram of the "surface on which we live," and the "supposed globe" 
— the supposed " hollow globe" — of the heavens, arched over the said 
surface. Now, Mr. Proctor, you picture the surface on which we live 
in exact accordance with your verbal description. And what is that 
description? We shall scarcely be believed when we say that we give 
it just as it stands: '^The level of the surface on which we live." 
And, that there may be no mistake about the meaning of the word 
"level," we remind you that your diagram proves that the level that 
you mean is the level of the mechanic, a plane surface, and not the 
''level" of the astronomer, which is a convex surface! In short, 
your description of the Earth is exactly what you say it " seems to 
be," and, yet, what you say it is not: the very aim of your book 
being to say so ! And we call this the prostitution of the printing 
press. And it is all the evidence that is necessary to bring the charge 
home to you, since the words and the diagram are in page 7 of your 
own book. You know, then, that Ea.rth is a Plane — and so do we. 

Now for the evidence of this grand fact, that other people may know 
it as well as you: remembering, from first to last, that you have 
not dared to bring forward a single item from the mass of evidence 
which is to be found in the "Zetetic Philosophy," by "Parallax," a 
work the influence of which it was the avowed object of your own 
book to crush ! — except that of the three boats, an experiment which 
you have never tried, and the result of which has never been known, 
by anyone who has tried it, to be as 3'ou say it is! 

1. The aeronaut can see for himself that Earth is a Plane, The 
appearance presented to him, even at the highest elevation he has ever 
attained, is that of a concave surface — this being exactly what is to 
be expected of a surface that is truly level, since it is the nature of 
level surfaces to appear to rise to a level with the eye of the ob- 
server. This is ocular demonstration and proof that Earth is not 
a globe. 

2. Whenever experiments have been tried on the surface of standing 
water, this surface has always been found to be level. If the Earth 
were a globe, tlie surface of ail standing water would be convex. This 
is an experimental proof that Earth is not a globe. 

3. Surveyors' operations in the construction of railroads, tunnels, 
or canals are conducted without the slightest "allowance" being 
made for "curvature," although it is taught that this so-called 
allowance is absolutely necessary! This is a cutting proof that 
Earth is not a globe. 

4. There are rivers that flow for hundreds of miles towards the 
level of the sea without failing more than a few feet — notably, the 
Nile, which, in a thousand miles, falls but a foot. A level expanse 



EARTH IS NOT A GLOBE. 7 

of this extent is quite incompatible with the idea of the Earth's *' con- 
vexity." It is, therefore, a reasonable proof that Earth is not a globe. 

5. ' The lights which are exhibited in lighthouses are seen by navi- 
gators at distances at which, according to the scale of the supposed 
'^curvature'' given by astroDomers, they ought to be many hundreds 
of feet, in some cases, down below the line of sight ! For instance : 
the light at Cape Hatteras is seen at such a distance (40 miles) that, 
according to theory, it ought to be nine-hundred feet higher above 
the level of the sea than it absolutely is, in order to be visible ! This 
is a conclusive proof that there is no " curvature,^' on the surface of 
the sea — " the level of the sea," — ridiculous though it is to be under 
the necessity of proving it at all : but it is, nevertheless, a conclusive 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

6. If we stand on the sands of the sea-shore and watch a ship ap- 
proach us, we shall find that she w^ill apparently ** rise" — to the extent 
of her own height, nothing more. If we stand upon an eminence, 
the same law operates still ; and it is but the law of perspective, which 
causes objects, as they approach us, to appear to increase in size until 
we see them, close to us, the size they are in fact. That there is no 
other "rise" than the one spoken of is plain from the fact that, no 
matter how high we ascend above the level of the sea, the horizon rises 
on and still on as we rise, so that it is always on a level with the eye, 
though it be two-hundred miles away, as seen by Mr. J. Glaisher, of 
England, from Mr. Coxwell's balloon. So that a ship five miles away 
may be imagined to be "coming up" the imaginary downward curve 
of the Earth's surface, but if we merely ascend a hill such as Federal 
Hill, Baltimore, we may see twenty-five miles away, on a level with 
the eye — that is, twenty miles level distance beyond the ship that we 
vainly imagined to be "rounding the curve," and "coming up!" 
This is a plain proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

7. If we take a trip down the Chesapeake Bay, in the day-time, we 
may see for ourselves the utter fallacy of the idea that when a vessel 
appears " hull down," as it is called, it is because the hull is " behind 
the water:" for, vessels have been seen, and may often be seen again, 
presenting the appearance spoken of, and away — far away — beyond 
those vessels, and, at the same moment, the level shore line, with 
its accompanying complement of tall trees, towering up, in perspective, 
over the heads of the *' hull-down" ships! Since, then, the idea will 
not stand its ground when the facts rise up against it, and it is a piece 
of the popular theory, the theory is a contemptible piece of business, 
and we may easily wring from it a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

8. If the Earth were a globe, a small model globe would be the 
very best — because the truest — thing for the navigator to take to sea 
with him. But such a thing as that is not known : with such a toy 
as a guide, the mariner would wreck his ship, of a certainty ! This is 
a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

9. As mariners take to sea with them charts constructed as though 
the sea were a level surface,. however these charts may err as to the 
true form of this level surface taken as a whole, it is clear, as they 
find them answer their purpose tolerably well — and only tolerably 
well, for many ships are wrecked owing to the error of which we 



8 ON'E HUNDEED PROOFS. 

speak — that the surface of the sea is as it is taken to be, whether the 
captain of the ship " supposes" the Earth to be a globe or anything 
else. Thus, then, we draw, from the cominon system of " plane sail- 
ing/' a practical proof that Earth is not a globe. 

10. That the mariners' compass points north and south at the 
same time is a fact as indisputable as that two and two makes. four; 
but that this would be impossible if the thing were.placed on a globe 
with "north" and "south" at the centre of opposite hemispheres is a 
fact that does not figure in the school-books, though very easily seen: 
and it requires no lengthy train of reasoning to bringout of it a pointed 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

11. As the mariners' compass points north and south at one time, 
and as the North, to which it is attracted, is that part of the Earth 
situate where the Xorth Star is in the zenith, it follows that there is 
no south" point" or '*pole" but that, while the centre is Korth, a 
vast circumference must be South in its whole extent. This is a proof 
that the Earth is not a globe. • 

12. As we have seen that there is, really, no south point (or pole) 
but an infinity of points forming, together, a vast circumference — the 
boundary of the known world, with its battlements of icebergs which 
bid defiance to man's onward course in a southerly direction — so there 
can be no east or west " points,'" just as there is no " yesterday," and 
no "to-morrow." In fact, as there is one point that is fixed (the 
North), it is impossible for any other point to be fixed likewise. East 
and west are, therefore, merely directions at right angles with a north 
and south line : and as the south point of the compass shifts round to 
all parts of the circular boundary, (as it maybe carried round the cen- 
tral North), so the directions east and west, crossing this line, con- 
tinued, form a circle, at any latitude. A westerly circumnavigation, 
therefore, is a going round with the North Star continually on the 
right hand, and an easterly circumnavigation is performed only when 
the reverse condition of things is maintained, the North Star being 
on the left hand as the journey is made. These facts, taken together, 
form a beautiful proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

13. As the mariners' compass points north and south at one and 
the same time, and a meridian is a north and south line, it follows 
that meridians can be no other than straight lines. But, since all 
meridians on a globe are semicircles, it is an incontrovertible proof 
that the Earth is not a globe. 

14. "Parallels of latitude" only — of all imaginary lines on the 
surface of the Earth — are circles, which increase, progressively, from 
the northern centre to the southern circumference. The mariner's 
course in the direction of any one of these concentric circles is his 
longitude, the degrees of which iis^Crease to such an extent beyond 
the equator (going southwards) that hundreds of vessels have been 
wrecked because of the false idea created by the untruthfulness of 
the charts and the globular theory together, causing the sailor to be 
continually getting out of his reckoning^ With a map of the Earth 
in its true form all difficulty is done away with, and ships may be 
conducted anywhere with perfect safety. This, then, is a very im- 
portant practical proof that the Earth is not a globe. *" 



EARTH IS NOT A GLOBE. 9 

15. The idea that, instead of sailing horizontally round the Earth, 
ships are taken down one side of a globe, then underneath, and are 
brought up on the other side to get home again, is, except as a mere 
dream, impossible and absurd ! And, since there are neither impos- 
sibilities nor absurdities in the simple matter of circumnayigation, it 
stands, without argument, a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

16. If the Earth were a globe, the distance round its surface at, 
say, 45 "degrees" south latitude, could not possibly be any greater 
than it is at tlie same latitude north ; but, since it is found by navi- 
gators to be twice the distance — to say the least of it — or, double the 
distance it ought to be according to the globular theory, it is a proof 
that the Earth is not a globe. 

17. Human beings require a surface on which to live that, in its 
general character, shall be level; and since the Omniscient Creator 
must have been perfectly acquainted with the requirements of His 
creatures, it follow^s that, being an All-wise Creator, He has met 
them thoroughly. This is a theological proof that the Earth is not 
a globe. 

18. The best possessions of man are his senses; and, when he uses 
them all, he will not be deceived in his survey of nature. It is only 
w^hen some one faculty or other is neglected or abused that he is de- 
luded. Every man in full command of his senses knows that a level 
surface is a flat or horizontal one ; but astronomers tell us that the 
true level is the curved surface of a globe! They know that man 
requires a level surface on W'hich to live, so they give him one in name 
which is not one in fact ! Since this is the best that astronomers, 
with their theoretical science, can do for their fellow creatures — de- 
ceive them — it is clear that things are not as they say they are; and, 
in short, it is a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

19. Every man in his senses goes the most reasonable way to work 
to do a thing. Now, astronomers (one after another — following a 
leader), while they are telling us that Earth is a globe, are cutting 
off the upper half of this supposititious globe in their books, and, in 
this w^ay, forming the level surface on which they describe man as 
living and moving! Now, if the Earth were really a globe, this 
would be just the most unreasonable and suicidal mode of endea- 
voring to show it. So that, unless theoretical astronomers are all 
out of their senses together, it is, clearly, a proof that the Earth is 
not a globe. 

20. The common sense of man tells him — if nothing else tuld him 
— that there is an ** up" and a *' dow^n" in nature, even as regards the 
heavens and the earth; but the theory of modern astronomers neces- 
sitates the conclusion that there is not : therefore, the theory of the 
astronomers is opposed to common sense — yes, and to inspiration 
— and this is a common sense proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

21. Man's experience tells him that he is not constructed like the 
flies that can live and move upon the ceiling of a room with as much 
safety as on the floor : and since the modern theory of a planetary 
earth necessitates a crowd of theories to keep company with it, and one 
of them is that men are really bound to the earth by a force which 
fastens them to it ** like needles round a spherical loadstone,'^ a 



10 ONE HUNDRED PROOFS, 

theory perfectly outrageous and opposed to all human experience, it 
follows that, unless we can trample upon common sense and ignore 
the teachings of experience, we have an evident proof that the Earth 
is not a globe, 

22. God's Truth never — ^no, never — requires a falsehood to help it 
along. Mr. Proctor, in his " Lessons," says: Men ''have been able 
to go round and round the Earth in several directions." Now, in 
this case, the word '^ several" will imply more than two, unquestion- 
ably: whereas, it is utterly impossible to circumnavigate the Earth in 
any other than an easterly or a westerly direction; and the fact 
is perfectly consistent and clear in its relation to Earth as a Plane. 
Now, since astronomers would not be so foolish as to damage a good 
cause by misrepresentation, it is presumptive evidence that theii' cause 
is a bad one, and— a proof that Earth is not a globe, 

23. If astronomical works be searched through and through, there 
will not be found a single instance of a bold, unhesitating, or manly 
statement respecting a proof of the Earth's "rotundity." Proctor 
speaks of *' proofs which serve to show . . that the Earth is not flat," 
and says that man " finds reason to think that the Earth is not flat," 
and speaks of certain matters being '^explaiued by supposing" that 
the Earth is a globe; and says that people have "assured themselves 
that it is a globe;" but he says, also, that there is a *' most complete 
proof that the Earth is a globe :" just as though anything in the world 
could possibly be wanted but a proof — a proof that proves and set- 
tles the whole question. This, however, all the money in the United 
States Treasury would not buy ; and, unless the astronomers are all 
so rich that they don't want the cash, it is a sterling proof that the 
Earth is not a globe. 

24. When a man speaks of a " most complete" thing amongst sev- 
eral other things which claim to be what that thing is, it is evident 
that they must fall short of something which the "most complete" 
thing possesses. And when it is known that the ''most complete" 
thing is an entire failure, it is plain that the others, all and sundry, 
are worthless. Proctor's " most complete proof that the Earth is a 
globe" lies in what he calls ''the fact" that distances from place to 
place agree with calculation. But, since the distance round the Earth 
at 45 " degrees'' south of the equator is twice the distance it would 
be on a globe, it follows that what the greatest astronomer of the age 
calls " a fact" is not a fact; that his "most complete proof" is a most 
complete failure ; and that he might as well have told us, at once, 
that he has no proqf to give us at all. Now, since, if the Earth be 
a globe, there would, necessarily, be piles of proofs of it all round 
us, it follows that when astronomers, with all their ingenuity, are 
utterly unable to point one out — to say nothing about picking one 
up — that they give us a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

25. The surveyor's plans in relation to the laying of the first 
Atlantic Telegraph cable, show that in 1665 miles — from Valentia, 
Ireland, to St. John's, Newfoundland — the surface of the Atlantic 
Ocean is a level surface — not the astronomers' "level," either! 
The authoritative drawings, published at the time, are a standing evi- 
dence of the fact, and form a practical proof that Earth is not a globe. 



I EABTH IS NOT A GLOBE. 11 

26. If the Earth vrere a globe, it would, if we take Valentia to be 
the place of departure, curvate downwards, in the 1665 miles across 
the Atlantic to Newfoundland, according to the astronomers' own ta- 
bles, more than three-hundred miles; but, as the surface of the At- 
lantic does not do so — the fact of its levelness having been clearly 
demonstrated by Telegraph Cable surveyors, — it follows that we 
have a grand proof that Earth is not a globe. 

27. Astronomers, in their consideration of the supposed '^curva- 
ture" of the Earth, have carefully avoided the taking of that view of the 
question which — if anything were needed to do so — would show its 
utter absurdity. It is this: — If, instead of taking our ideal point of 
departure to be at Valentia, we consider ourselves at St. John's, the 
1665 miles of water between us and Valentia would just as well 
" curvate" downwards as it did in the other case ! Now, since the 
direction in which the Earth is said to "curvate" is interchangeable — 
depending, indeed, upon the position occupied by a man upon its sur- 
face — the thing is utterly absurd ; and it follows that the theory is an 
outrage, and that the Earth does not *' curvate" at all: — an evident 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

28. Astronomers are in the habit of considering two points on the 
Earth's surface, without, it seems, any limit as to the distance that lies 
between them, as being on a level, and the intervening section, even 
though it be an ocean, as a vast *' hill'' — of water I The Atlantic ocean, 
in taking this view of the matter, would form a " hill of water'' more 
than a hundred miles high ! The idea is simply monstrous, and could 
only be entertained by scientists whose whole business is made up of 
materials of the same description : and it certainly requires no argit- 
ment to deduce, from such '' science" as this, a satisfactory proof that 
the Earth is not a globe. 

29. If the Earth were a globe, it would, unquestionably, have the 
same general characteristics — no matter its size — as a small globe that 
may be stood tipon the table. As the small globe has top, bottom, 
and sides, so must also the large one — no matter how large it be. 
Bttt, as the Earth, which is " supposed" to be a large globe, has no 
sides or bottom as the small globe has, the conclusion is irresistible 
that it is a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

30. If the Earth were a globe, an observer who should ascend above 
its surface w^otild have to look downwards at the horizon (if it be 
possible to conceive of a horizon at all under such circumstances) even 
as astronomical diagrams indicate — at angles varying from ten to 
nearly fifty degrees below the " horizontal" line of sight I (It is just 
as absurd as it would be to be taught that when we look at a man full 
in the face we are looking down at his feet !) But, as no observer in 
the clouds, or upon any eminence on the earth, has ever had to do so, 
it follows that the diagrams spoken of are imaginary and false; that 
the theory w^hich requires such things to prop it up is equally airy and 
untrue; and that we have a substantial proof that Earth is not a globe. 

31. If the Earth were a globe, it would certainly have to be as 
large as it is said to be — twenty-five thousand miles in circumference, 
Now, the thing which is called a " proof" of the Earth's roundness, 
and which is presented to children at school, is, that if we stand on 



12 OKE HUNDRED PROOFS, 

the sea-sliore we may see the ships, as they approach ns, absolutely 
"coming up," and that, as we are able to seethe highest parts of these 
ships first, it is because the lower parts are "behind the earth's curve." 
Now, since, if this were the case — that is, if the lower parts of these 
ships were behind a ''hill of water" at all^ — the size of the Earth, in- 
dicated by such a curve as this, would be so small that it would only 
be big enough to hoLi the people of a parish, if they could get all 
round it, instead of the nations of the world, it follows that the idea 
is preposterous; that the appearance is due to another and to some 
reasonable cause; and that, instead of being a proof of the globular 
form of the Earth, it is a proof that Earth is not a globe, 

32. It is often said that, if the Earth were fiat, we could see all 
over it ! This is the result of ignorance. If we stand on the level 
surface of a plain or a prairie, and take notice, we shall find that the 
horizon is formed at about three miles all around us: that is, the 
ground appears to rise up until, at that distance, it seems on a level 
with the eye-line or line of sight. Consequently, objects no higher 
than we stand — say, six feet — and which are at that distance (three 
miles), have reached the "vanishing point," and are beyond the sphere 
of our unaided vision. This is the reason why the hull of a ship dis- 
appears (in going away from us) before the sails ; and, instead of there 
being about it the faintest shadow of evidence of the Earth's rotundity, 
it is a clear proof that Earth is not a globe. 

33. If the Earth were a globe, people — except those on the top — 
would, certainly, have to be " fastened'' to its surface by some means 
or other, whether by the "attraction" of astronomers or by some other 
undiscovered and undiscoverable process ! But, as we know that we 
simply walk on its surface without any other aid than that which is 
necessary for locomotion on a plane, it follows that we have, herein, 
a conclusive proof that Earth is not a globe. 

34. If the Earth were a globe, there certainly would be — if we 
could imagine the thing to be peopled all round — "antipodes:" 
" people who," says the dictionary, "living exactly on the opposite 
side of the globe to ourselves, have their feet opposite to ours:" 
— people who are hanging heads downwards whilst we are standing 
heads up ! But, siace the theory allows us to travel to those parts 
of the Earth where the people are said to be heads downwards, and 
still to fancy ourselves to be heads upwards and our friends whom 
we have left behind us to be heads downwards, it follows that the 
whole thing is a myth — a dream — a delusion — and a snare ; and, 
instead of there being any evidence at all in this direction to sub- 
stantiate the popular theory, it is a plain proof that the Earth is 
not a globe. 

35. If we examine a true picture of the distant horizon, or the 
thing itself, we shall find that it coincides exactly with a perfectly 
straight and level line. Now, since there could be nothing of the kind 
on a globe, and we find it to be the case all over the Earth, it is a 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

36. If we take a journey down the Chesapeake Bay, by night, 
we shall see the "light" exhibited at Sharpe's Island for an hour 
before the steamer gets to it. We may take up a position on the deck 



EAETH IS NOT A GLOBE. 13 

SO ttat tte rail of the vessel's side will be in a line witii the " light" and 
in the line of sight ; and we shall find that in the whole journey the 
lip^ht will n(->t vary in the slightest degree in its apparent elevation, 
Bnt, say that a distance of thirteen miles has been traversed, the as- 
tronomers' theory of ''curvature" demands a difference (one way or 
the other !) in the apparent elevation of the light, of 112 feet 8 inches ! 
Since, however, there is not a difference of 112 hair's breadths, we 
have a plainproof that the water of the Chesapeake Bay is not curved, 
which is a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

37. If the Earth were a globe, there would, very likely, be (for 
nobody knows) six months day and six months night at the arctic and 
antarctic regions, as astronomers dare to assert there is : — for their 
theory demands it ! But, as this fact — the six months day and six 
months night — is nowhere found but in the arctic regions, it agrees 
perfectly with everything else that we know about the Earth as a 
plane, and, whilst it overthrows the "accepted theory," it furnishes 
a striking proof that Earth is not a globe. 

88. When the Sun crosses the equator, in March, and begins to 
circle round the heavens in north latitude, the inhabitants of high 
northern latitudes see him skimming round their horizon and forming 
the break of their long day, in a horizontal course, not disappearing 
again for six months, as he rises higher and higher in the heavens 
whilst he makes his twenty-four hour circle until June, when he 
begins to descend and goes on until he disappears beyond the horizon 
in September. Thus, in the northern regions, they have that which 
the traveller calls the " midnight Sun," as h^ sees that luminary at a 
time when, in his more southern latitude, it is always midnight. If, 
then, for one-half the year, w^e may see for ourselves the Sun making 
horizontal circles round the heavens, it is presumptive evidence that, 
for the other half-year, he is doing the same, although beyond the 
boundary of our vision. This, being a proof that Earth is a plane, 
is, therefore, a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

39. "We have abundance of evidence that the Sun moves daily round 
and over the Earth in circles coQCentric with the northern region over 
which hangs the North Star ; but, since the theory of the Earth 
being a globe is necessarily connected with the theory of its motion 
round the Sun in a yearly orbit, it falls to the ground when we bring 
forward the evidence of which we speak, and, in so doing, forms a 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

40. The Suez Canal, which joins the Eed Sea with the Mediter- 
ranean, is about one hundred miles long ; it forms a straight and level 
surface of water from one end to the other; and no ** allowance" for 
any supposed "curvature" was made in its construction. It is a clear 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

41. When astronomers assert that it is " necessary" to make " al- 
lowance for curvature" in canal construction, it is, of course, in order 
that. In their idea, a level cutting may be had for the water. How 
flagrantly, then, do they contradict themselves when they say that the 
curved surface of the Earth is a " true level !" What more can they 
want for a canal than a true level? Since they contradict themselves 
in such an elementary point as this, it is an evidence that the whole 



14 OKE SUNDEED 1>E00FS 

tiling is a delusion, and we have a proof that tKe Earth is not a globe. 

42. It is certain that the theory of the Earth's rotundity and that 
of its mobility must stand or fall together. A proof, then, of its im- 
mobility is virtually a proof of its non-rotundity. Now, that the 
Earth does not move, either on an axis, or in an orbit round the Sun 
or anything else, is easily proven. If the Earth went through space 
at the rate of eleven-hundred miles in a minute of time, as astronomers 
teach us, in a particular direction, there would unquestionably be a 
difference in the result of firing off a projectile in that direction and 
in a direction the opposite of that one. But as, in fact, there is not 
the slightest difference in any such case, it is clear that any alleged 
motion of the Earth is disproved, and that, therefore, we have a proof 
that the Earth is jiot a gJobe. 

43. The circumstances which attend bodies which are caused 
merely to fall from a great height prove nothing as to the motion or 
stability of the Earth, since the object, if it be on a thing that is in 
motion, will participate in that motion ; but, if an object be thrown 
upwards from a body at rest, and, again, from a body in motion, the 
circumstances attending its descent will be very different. In the 
former case, it will fall, if thrown vertically upwards, at the place 
from whence it was projected; in the latter case, it will fall behind 
— the moving body from which it is thrown will leave it in the rear. 
Now, fix a gun, muzzle upwards, accurately, in the ground; fire off a 
projectile; and it will fall by the gun. If the Earth travelled eleven- 
hundred miles a minute, the projectile would fall behind the gun, in 
the opposite direction to that of the supposed motion. Since, then, 
this is NOT the case, in fact, the Earth's fancied motion is negatived, 
and we have a proof that the Earth is not a globe, 

44. It is in evidence that, if a projectile be fired from a rapidly 
moving body in an opposite direction to that in which the body is 
going, it will fall short of the distance at which it would reach the 
ground if fired in the direction of motion. Now, since the Earth is 
said to move at the rate of nineteen miles in a second of time, "from 
west to east," it would make all the difference imaginable if the 
gun were fired in an opposite direction. But, as, in practice, there 
is not the slightest difference, whicliever way the thing maybe done, 
we have a forcible overthrow of all fancies relative to the motion 
of the Earth, and a striking proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

45. The Astronomer Royal, of England, George B, Airy, in his 
celebrated work on Astronomy, the " Ipswich Lectures," says: "Jupiter 
is a large planet that turns on his axis, and why do not we turn?" 
Of course, the common sense reply is: Because the Earth is not a 
planet! When, therefore, an astronomer royal puts words into our 
mouth wherewith we may overthrow the supposed planetary nature 
of the Earth, we have not far to go to pick up a proof that Earth 
is not a globe. 

46. It has been shown that an easterly or a westerly motion is 
necessarily a circular course round the central North, The only north 
point or centre of motion of the heavenly bodies known to man is 
that formed by the North Star, which is over the central portion 
of the outstretched Earth. When, therefore, astronomers tell us of 



EAETH IS NOT A GLOBE. 15 

a planet taking a westerly course round the Sun, the thing is as mean- 
ingless to them as it is to us, unless they make the Sun the northern 
centre of the motion, which they cannot do ! Since, then, the motion 
which they tell us the planets have is, on the face of it, absurd ; and 
since, as a matter of fact, the Earth can have no absurd motion at 
all, it is clear that it cannot be what astronomers say it is — a planet ; 
and, if not a planet, it is a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

47. Inconsequence of the fact being so plainly seen, by everyone 
who visits the sea-shore, that the line of the horizon is a perfectly 
straight line, it becomes impossible for astronomers, when they attempt 
to convey, pictorially, an idea of the Earth's *' convexity," to do so 
with even a shadow of consistency: for they dare not represent this 
horizon as a curved line, so well known is it that it is a straight one I 
The greatest astronomer of the age, in page 15 of his *' Lessons," gives 
an illustration of a ship sailing ^way, " as though she were rounding 
the top of a great hill of water ;" and there — of a truth — is the straight 
and level line of the horizon clear along the top of the " hill" from one 
side of the picture to the other ! Now, if this picture were true in all 
its parts — and it is outrageously false in several — it would show that 
Earth is a cylinder; for the "hill'' shown is simply up one side of the 
level, horizontal line, and, we are led to suppose, down the other ! 
Since, then, we have such high authority as Professor Richard A. 
Proctor that the Earth is a cylinder, it is, certainly, a proof that the 
Earth is not a globe. 

48, In Mr. Proctor's ** Lessons in Astronomy," page 15, a ship is 
represented as sailing away from the observer, and it is given in five 
positions or distances away on its journey. Now, in its first position, 
its mast appears above the horizon, and, consequently, higher than 
the observer's line of vision. But, in its second and third positions, 
representing the ship as further and further away, it is drawn higher 
and still higher up above the line of the horizon ! Now, it is utterly 
impossible for a ship to sail away from an observer, under the condi- 
tions indicated, and to appear as given in the picture. Consequently, 
the picture is a misrepresentation, a fraud, and a disgrace. A ship 
starting to sail away from an observer with her masts above his line of 
sight would appear, indisputably, to go down and still lower down 
towards the horizon line, and could not possibly appear — to anyone 
with his vision undistorted — as going in any other direction, curved 
or straight. Since, then, the design of the astronomer-artist is to show 
the Earth to be a globe, and the points in the picture, which would 
only prove the Earth to be cylindrical if true, are not true, it follows 
that the astronomer-artist fails to prove, pictorially, either that the 
Earth is a globe or a cylinder, and that we have, therefore, a reason- 
able proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

49. It is a well-known fact that clouds are continually seen moving 
in all manner of directions — yes, and frequently, in difi'erent directions 
at the same time — from west to east being as frequent a direction as 
any other. Now, if the Earth were a globe, revolving through space 
from west to east at the rate of nineteen miles in a second, the clouds 
appearing to us to move towards the east would have to move quicker 
than nineteen miles in a second to be thus seen ; whilst those which 



16 o^tE HUin>EED PEOOFS. 

appear to be moving in the opposite direction wonld have no neces- 
sity to be moving at all, since the motion of the Earth wonld be more 
than sufficient to cause the appearance. But it only takes a little 
common sense to show ns that it is the clonds that move just as they 
appear to do, and that, therefore, the Earth is motionless. We have, 
then, a j^roof that the Earth is not a globe. 

60. We read in the inspired book, or collection of books, called 
The Bible, nothing at all abont the Earth being a globe or a planet, 
from beginning to end, but hundreds of allusions there are in its pages 
which could not be made if the Earth were a globe, and which are, 
therefore, said by the astronomer to be absurd and contrary to what 
he knows to be true ! This is the groundwork of modern infidelity. 
But, since everyone of many, many allusions to the Earth and the 
heavenly bodies in the Scriptures can be demonstrated to be abso- 
lutely ti'ue to nature, and we read of tie Earth being "stretched out" 
" above the waters," as " standing in the water and out of the water," 
of its being '^established that it cannot be moved," we have a store 
from which to take all the proofs we need, but we will just put down 
one proof — ^the Scriptural proof — ^that Earth is not a globe. 

51. A " Standing Order" exists in the English Houses of Parlia- 
ment that, in the cutting of canals, &c., the datum line employed 
shall be a "horizontal line, which shall be the same throughout the 
whole length of the work," Now, if the Earth were a globe, this 
"Order" could not be carried out: but, it is carried out: therefore. 
it is a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

52. It is a well-known and indisputable fact that there is a far 
greater accumulation of ice south of the equator than is to be found 
at an equal latitude north : and it is said that at Kerguelen, 50 de- 
grees south, 18 kinds of plants exist, whilst, in Iceland, 15 degrees 
nearer the northern centre, there are 870 species ; and, indeed, all 
the facts in the case show that the Sun's power is less intense at 
places in the southern region than it is in corresponding latitudes 
north. N'ow, on the Newtonian hypothesis, all this is inexplicable, 
whilst it is strictly in accordance with the facts brought to light by 
the carrying out of the principles involved in the Zetetic Philosophy of 
" Parallax." This is a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

53. Every year the Sun is as long south of the equator as he 
is north; and if the Earth were not "stretched out" as it is, in 
fact, but turned under, as the Newtonian theory suggests, it would 
certainly get as intensive a share of the Sun's rays south as north; 
but the Southern region being, ia consequence of the fact stated, 
far more extensive than the region North, the Sun, having to com- 
plete his journey round every twenty-four hours, travels quicker as 
he goes further south, from September to December, and his influence 
has less time in which to accumulate at any given point. Since, 
then, the facts could not be as they are if the Earth were a globe, 
it is a proof that the Earth is not a globe, 

54. The aeronaut is able to start in his balloon and remain for 
hours in the air, at an elevation of several miles, and come down again 
in the same county or parish from which he ascended. Now, unless 
the Earth drag the balloon along with it in its nineteen-miles-a- 



EAETH IS NOT A GLOBE. 17 

second motion, it must be left far behind, in space : but, since balloons 
have never been known thus to be left, it is a proof that the Earth, 
does not moye, and, therefore, a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

55. The Newtonian theory of astronomy requires that the Moon 
"borrow" her light from the Sun. ISTow, since the Sun's rays are hot 
and the Moon's light sends with it no heat at all, it follows that the 
Sun and Moon are "two great lights," as we somewhere read; that 
the Newtonian theory is a mistake; and that, therefore, we have a 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

66. The Sun and Moon may often be seen high in the heavens at 
the same time — the Sun rising in the east and the Moon settiug in the 
west — the Sun's light positively putting the Moon's light out by sheer 
contrast! If the accepted Newtonian theory were correct, and the 
Moon had her light from the Sun, she ought to be getting more of it 
when face to face with that luminary — if it WT.re possible for a sphere 
to act as a reflector all over its face ! But as the Moon's light pales 
before the rising Sun, it is a proof that the theory fails; and this gives 
us a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

57. The Newtonian hypothesis involves the necessity of the Sun, 
in the case of a lunar eclipse, being on the opposite side of a globular 
earth, to cast its shadow on the Moon: but, since eclipses of the Moon 
have taken place with both the Sun and the Moon above the horizon, 
it follows that it cannot be the shadow of the Earth that eclipses the 
Moon ; that the theory is a blunder ; and that it is nothing less than a 
proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

58. Astronomers have never agreed amongst themselves about a 
rotating Moon revolving round a rotating and revolving Earth — this 
Earth, Moon, planets and their satellites all, at the same time dashing 
through space, around the rotating and revolving Sun, towards the 
constellation Hercules, at the rate of four millions of miles a day! 
And they never will: agreement is impossible! With the Earth a 
plane and without motion, the whole thing is clear. And if a straw 
will show which way the wind blows, this may be taken as a pretty 
strong proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

59. Mr. Proctor says: " The Sun is so far off that even moving 
from one side of the Earth to the other does not cause him to be seen 
in a difi'erent direction — at least the difference is too small to be mea- 
sured," Now, since we know that north of the equator, say 45 degrees, 
we see the Sun at mid-day to the south, and that at the same distance 
south of the equator we see the Sun at mid-day to the north, our very 
shadows on the ground cry aloud against the delusion of the day and 
give us a proof that Earth is not a globe, 

60. There is no problem more important to the astronomer than 
that of the Sun's distance from the Earth. Every change in the esti- 
mate changes everything. Now, since modern astronomers, in their 
estimatesof this distance, have gone all the way along the line of figures 
from three millions of miles to a hundred and four millions — to-day, 
the distance being something over 91,000,000; it matters not how 
much: for, not many years ago, Mr. Hind gave the distance, " accu- 
rately," as 95,370,000! — it follows that they don't know, and that it 
is foolish for anyone to expect that they ever will know, the Sun's 



18 02S"E HUNDRED PEOOFS, 

distance ! And since all this specnlation and absurdity is caused by 
the primary assumption that Earth is a wandering, heavenly body, 
and is all swept away by a knowledge of the fact that Earth is a 
plane, it is a clear proof that Earth is not a globe. 

61. It is plain that a theory of measurements without a measuring- 
rod is like a ship without a rudder ; that a measure that is not fixed, 
not Jikely to be fixed, and never has been fixed, forms no measuriDg- 
rodatall; and that as modern theoretical astronomy depends upon 
the Sun's distance from the Earth as its measuring-rod, and the dis- 
tance is not known, it is a system of measurements without a meas- 
uring-rod — a ship without a rudder. . Kow, since it is not difficult to 
foresee the dashing of this thing upon the rock on which Zetetic as- 
tronomy is founded, it is a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

62. It is commonly asserted that " the Earth must be a globe be- 
cause people have sailed round it." Now, since this implies that we 
can sail round nothing unless it be a globe, and the fact is well known 
that we can sail round the Earth as a plane, the assertion is ridicu- 
lous, and we have another proof that Earth is not a globe. 

63. It is a fact not so well known as it ought to be that when a 
ship, m sailing away from us, has reached the point at which her hull 
is lost to our unaided vision, a good telescope will restore to our view 
this portion of the vessel. Now, since telescopes are not made to 
enable people to see through a "hill of water," it is clear that the 
hulls of ships are not behind a hill of water when they can be seen 
through a telescope though lost to our unaided vision. This is a 
proof that Earth is not a globe. 

64. Mr. Glaisher, in speaking of his balloon ascents, says: "The 
horizon always appeared on a level with the car." Now, since we 
may search amongst the laws of optics in vain for any principle 
that would cause the surface of a globe to turn its face upwards 
instead of downwards, it is a clear proof that the Earth is not a globe, 

65. The Rev. D. Olmsted, in describing a diagram which is sup- 
posed to represent the Earth as a globe, with a figure of a man sticking 
out at each side and one hanging head downwards, says: " We should 
dwell on this point until it appears to us as truly up," — in the direc- 
tion given to these figures as it does with regard to a figure which he 
has placed on the top! Now, a system of philosophy which requires 
us to do something which is, really, the going out of our minds, by 
dwelling on an absurdity until we think it is a fact, cannot be a 
system based on God's truth, which never requires anything of the 
kind. Since, then, the popular theoretical astronomy of the day re- 
quires this, it is evident that it is the wrong thing, and that this 
conclusion furnishes us with a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

66. It is often said that the predictions of eclipses prove astron- 
omers to be right in t^eir theories. But it is not seen that this proves 
too much. It is well known that Ptolemy predicted eclipses for 
six-hundred years, on the basis of a plane Earth, with as much 
accuracy as they are predicted by modern obseryers. If, then, the 
predictions prove the truth of the particular theories current at the 
time, they just as well prove one side of the question ^ as the other, 
and enable us to lay claim to a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 



EAETH 13 NOT A GLOBE. 19 

67. SeTen-liundred miles is said to be tlie leagth of the great 
Canal, in China. Certain it is that, when this canal was formed, no 
"allowance" was made for ''curvature." Yet the canal is a fact 
without it. This is a Chinese proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

63. Mr. J. X, Lockyer says: "Because the Sun seems to rise in 
the east and set in the Vest, the Earth really spins in the opposite di- 
rection ; that is, from west to east." Kow, this is no better than 
thougli we were to say — Because a man seems to be coming up the 
street, the street really goes down to tlie man! And since true science 
would contain no such nonsense as this, it follows that the so-called 
science of theoretical astronomy is not true, and, therefore, we have a 
proof that the Earth is not a p;lobe. 

69. Mr. Lockyer says : " The appearances connected with the rising 
and setting of the Sun and stars may be due either to our earth being 
at rest and the Sun and stars travelling round it, or the earth itself 
turning round, while the Sun and stars are at rest." Xow, since true 
science does not allow of any such beggarly alternatives as these, it 
is plain that modern theoretical astro riomy is not true science, and 
that its leading dogma is a fallacy. We have, then, a plain proof that 
the Earth is not a globe. 

70. Mr. Lockyer, in describing his picture of the supposed proof 
of the Earth's rotundity by means of ships rounding a "hill of water," 
uses these words: — "Diagram showing how, when we suppose the earth 
is round, we explain how it is that ships at sea appear as they do." 
This is utterly unworthy of the name of Science ! A science that be- 
gins by supposing, and ends by explaining the supposition, is, from 
beginning to end, a mere farce. The men who can do nothing better 
than amuse themselves in this way must be denounced as dreamers 
only, and their leading dogma a delusion. This is a proof that Earth 
is not a globe. 

71. The astronomers' theory of a globular Earth necessitates the 
conclusion that, if we travel south of the equator, to see the North 
Star is an impossibility. Yet it is well known this star has leen seen 
by navigators when they have been more than 20 degrees south of the 
equator. This fact, like hundreds of other facts, puts the theory to 
shame, and gives us a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

72. Astronomers tell us that, in consequence of the Earth's " ro- 
tundity," the perpendicular walls of buildings are, nowhere, parallel, 
and that even the walls of houses on opposite sides of a street are not 
strictly so ! But, since all observation fails to find any evidence of 
this want of parallelism which theory demands, the idea must be re- 
nounced as being absurd and in opposition to all well-known facts. 
This is a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

73. Astronomers have made experiments with pendulums which 
have been suspended from the interior of high buildings, and have 
exulted over the idea of being able to prove the rotation of the Earth 
on its "axis," by the varying direction taken by the pendulum over 
a prepared table un derneath — asserting that the table moved round 
under the pendulum, instead of the pendulum shifting and oscillating 
in different directions over the table ! But, since it has been found 
that, as often as not, the pendulum went round the wrong way for the 



20 OKE HUNDRED PEOOFS. 

"rotation" theory, cBagrin has taken tlie place of exultation, and we 
Have a proof of the failure of astronomers in their efforts to substan- 
tiate their theory, and, therefore, a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

74. As to the supposed *' motion of the whole Solar system in 
space," the Astronomer Eoyal of England once said: "The matter is 
left in a most delightful state of uncertainty, and I shall be very glad 
if anyone can help us out of it." But, since the whole Xewtonian 
scheme is, to-day, in a most deplorable state of uncertainty — for, 
whether the Moon goes round the Earth or the Earth round the Moon 
has, for years, been a matter of "raging" controYersy— it follows that, 
root and branch, the whole thing, is wrong; and, all hot from the 
raging furnace of philosophical phrensy, we find a glowing proof that 
Earth is not a globe. 

75. Considerably more than a million Earths would be required to 
make up a body like the Sun — the astronomers tell us : and more than 
53,000 suns would be wanted to equal the cubic contents of the star 
Vega. And Vega is a " small star !" And there are countless mil- 
lions of these stars! And it takes 30,000,000 years for the light of 
some of these stars to reach us at 12,000,000 miles in a minute! 
And, says Mr. Proctor, " I think a moderate estimate of the -age of the 
Earth would be 500,000,000 years! "Its weight,'' says the same in- 
dividual, "is 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons!" Now, since no 
human being is able to comprehend these things, the giving of them 
to the world is an insult — an outrage. And though they have all arisen 
from the one assumption that Earth is a planet, instead of upholding 
the assumption, they drag it down by the weight of their own absurd- 
ity, and leave it lying in the dust — a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

76. Mr. J. E. Young, in his work on Navigation, says: " Although 
the path of the ship is on a spherical surface, yet we may represent 
the length of the path by a straight line on a plane surface." 
(And plane sailing is the rule.) Now, since it is altogether impos- 
sible to "represent" a curved line by a straight one, and absurd 
to make the attempt, it follows that a straight line represents a 
straight line and not a curved one. And, since it is the surface of 
the waters of the ocean that is being considered by Mr, Young, it 
follows that this surface is a straight surface, and we are indebted 
to Mr. Young, a professor of navigation, for a proof that the Earth is 
not a globe, 

77. "Oh, but if the Earth is a plane, we could go to the edge and 
tumble over!" is a very common assertion. This is a conclusion that 
is formed too hastily, and facts overthrow it. The Earth certainly is, 
just what man by his observation finds it to be, and what Mr. Proctor 
himself says it " seems" to be — flat ; and we cannot cross the icy bar- 
rier which surrounds it. This is a complete answer to the objection, 
and, of course, a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

78. " Yes, but we can circumnavigate the South easily enough," 
is often said — by those who don't know, The British Ship Challenger 
recently completed the circuit of the Southern region — indirectly, to 
be sure — but she was three years about it, and traversed nearly 69,000 
miles — a stretch long enough to have taken her six times round on the 
globular hypothesis, This is a proof that Earth is not a globe, 



EAETH IS NOT A ©LOBE. 21 

79. Tlie remark is common enough that we can see the circle of 
the Earth if we cross the ocean, and that this proves it to be round. 
Now, if we tie a donkey to a stake on a level common, and he eats the 
grass all around him, it is only a circular disc that he has to do with, 
not a spherical mass. Since, then, circular discs may be seen any- 
where — as well from a balloon in the air as from the deck of a ship, or 
from the standpoint of the donkey, it is a proof that the surface of the 
Earth is a plane surface, and, therefore, a proof that the Earth is not 
a globe. 

80. It is " supposed , " in the regul ar course of the Newtonian theory, 
that the Earth is, in June, about 190 millions of miles (190,000,000) 
away from its position in December, Now, since we can, (in middle 
north latitudes), see the North Star, on looking out of a window that 
faces it — and out of the very same corner of the very same pane of 
glass in the very same window — all the year round, it is proof enough 
for any man in his senses that we have made no motion at all. It is a 
proof that the Earth is not a globe, 

81. Newtonian philosophers teach us that the Moon goes round 
the Earth from west to east. But observation — man's most certain 
mode of gaining knowledge — shows us that the Moon never ceases to 
move in the opposite direction — from east to west. Since, then, we 
know that nothing can possibly move in two, opposite directions at 
the same time, it is a proof that the thing is a big blunder; and, in 
short, it is a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

82. Astronomers tell us that the Moon goes round the Earth in 
about 28 days. Well, we may see her making her journey round, every 
day, if we make use of our eyes — and these are about the best things 
we have to use. The Moon falls behind in her daily motion as com- 
pared with that of the Sun to the extent of one revolution in the time 
specified; but that is not making a revolution. Failing to go as fast 
as other bodies go in one direction does not constitute a going round 
in the opposite one — as the astronomers would have us believe! And, 
since all this absurdity has been rendered necessary for no other pur- 
pose than to help other absurdities along, it is clear that the astron- 
omers are on the wrong track; audit needs no long train of reasoning 
to show that we have a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

83. It has been shov/n that meridians are, necessarily, straight 
lines; and that it is impossible to travel round the Earth in a north 
or south direction : from which it follows that, in the general accept- 
ation of the word "degree," — the 860th part of a circle — meridians 
have no degrees: for no one knows anything of a meridian circle or 
semicircle, to be thus divided. But astronomers speak of degrees of 
latitude in the same sense as those of longitude. This, then, is done 
by assuming that to be true which is not true. Zetetic philosophy 
does not involve this necessity. This proves that the basis of this 
philosophy is a sound one, and, in short, is a proof that the Earth is 
not a globe. 

84. If we move away from an elevated object on or over a plain 
or a prairie, the height of the object will apparently diminish as we 
do so. Now, that which is sufficient to produce this effect on a small 
scale is sufficient on a large one ; and travelling away from an elevated 



22 ON'E HUNDEED PROOFS. 

object, no matter how high, over a level surface, no matter how far, 
will cause the appearance in question — the lowering of the object. 
Our modern theoretical astronomers, however, in the case of the 
apparent lowering of the E"orth Star as we travel southward, assert 
that it is evidence that the Earth is globular ! But, as it is clear that 
an appearance which is fully accounted for on the basis of known 
facts cannot be permitted to figure as evidence in favor of that which 
is only a supposition, it follows that we rightfully order it to stand 
down, and make way for a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

85. There are rivers which flow east, west, north, and south — that 
is, rivers are flowing in all directions over the Earth's surface, and at 
the same time. Now, if the Earth were a globe, some of these ri-'.^ers 
would be flowing up-hill and others down, taking it for a fact that 
there really is an *' up" and a '' down" in nature, whatever form she 
assumes. But, since rivers do not flow up-hill, and the globular 
theory requires that they should, it is a proof that the Earth is not a 
globe. 

86. If the Earth were a globe, rolling and dashing through ''space" 
at the rate of *' a hundred miles in five seconds of time," the waters of 
seas and oceans could ndt, by any known law, be kept on its surface — 
the assertion that they could be retained under these circumstances 
being an outrage upon human understanding and credulity ! But as 
the Earth — that is, the habitable world of dry land— is found to be 
" standing out of the water and in the water" of the " mighty deep," 
whose circumferential boundary is ice, we may throw the statement 
back into the teeth of those who make it and flaunt before their faces 
the flag of reason and common sense, inscribed with — a proof that the 
Earth is not a globe. 

87. The theory of a rotating and revolving earth demands a theory 
to keep the water on its surface; but, as the theory which is given for 
this purpose is as much opposed to all human experience as the one 
which it is intended to uphold, it is an illustration of the miserable 
makeshifts to which astronomers are compelled to resort, and affords 
a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

88. If we could— after our minds had once been opened to the 
light of Truth — conceive of a globular body on the surface of which 
human beings could exist, the power — no matter by what name it be 
called — that would hold them on would, then, necessarily, have to be 
so constraining and cogent that they could not live ; the waters of the 
oceans would have to be as a solid mass, for motion would be impos- 
sible. But we not only exist, but live and move ; and the water of 
the ocean skips and dances like a thing of life and beauty ! This is 
a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

89. It is well known that the law regulating the apparent decrease 
in the size of objects as we leave them in the distance (or as they leave 
us) is very different with luminous bodies from what it is in the case 
ot* those which are non-laminous. Sail past the light of a small lamp 
in a row-boat on a dark night, and it will seem to be no smaller when 
a mile off than it was when close to it. Proctor says, in speaking of 
the Sun: "his apparent size does not change," — far off or near. And 
then he forgets the factl Mr. Proctor tells us, subsequently, that, if 



EARTH IS NOT A GLOBE. 23 

the traveller goes so far south that the North Star appears on the ho- 
rizon, *' the Sun should therefore look much larger" — if the Earth 
were a plane! Therefore, he argues, " the path followed cannot have 
been the straight course," — but a curved one. Now, since it is nothing 
but common scientific trickery to bring forward, as an objection to 
stand in the way of a plane Earth, the non-appearance of a thing 
which has never been known to appear at all, it follows that, unless 
that which appears to be trickery were an accident, it was the only 
course open to the objector — to trick, (Mr. Proctor, in a letter to the 
*' English Mechanic" for Oct. 20, 1871, boasts of having turned a re- 
cent convert to the Zetetic philosophy by telling him that his argu- 
ments were all very good, but that " it seems as though [mark the 
language !] the sun ought to look nine times larger in summer." 
And Mr, Proctor concludes thus: " He saw, indeed, that, in his faith 
in ' Parallax,' he had * written himself down an ass.' ") Well, then: 
trickery or no trickery on the part of the objector, the objection is a 
counterfeit — a fraud — no valid objection at all; and it follows that the 
system which does not purge itself of these things is a rotten system, 
and the system which its advocates, with Mr. Proctor at their head, 
would crush if they could find a weapon to use — the Zetetic philosophy 
of *' Parallax" — is destined to live ! This is a proof that the Earth is 
not a globe. 

90. " Is water level, or is it not ?" was a question once asked of an 
astronomer. "Practically, yes; theoretically, no," was the reply. 
Now, when theory does not harmonize with practice, the best thing to 
do is to drop the theory. (It is getting too late, now, to say *' So much 
the worse for the facts'/') To drop the theory which supposes a curved 
surface to standing water is to acknowledge the facts which form the 
basis of Zetetic philosophy. And since this will have to be done — 
sooner, or later, — it is a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

91. **By actual observation,'^ says Schoedler, in his *' Book of 
Nature," *'wfe know that the other heavenly bodies are spherical, 
hence we unhesitatingly assert that the earth is so also." This is a 
fair sample of all astronomical reasoning. When a thing is classed 
amongst ** other" things, the likeness between them must first be pro- 
ven. It does not take a Schoedler to tell us that " heavenly bodies" 
are spherical, but ''the greatest astronomer of the age" will not, now, 
dare to tell us that The Earth is — and attempt to prove it. Now, since 
no likeness has ever been proven to exist between the Earth and the 
heavenly bodies, the classification of the Earth with the heavenly 
bodies is premature — unscientific — false ! This is a proof that Earth 
is iM t a globe. 

92. " There is no inconsistency in supposing that the earth does 
move round the sun," says the Astronomer Eoyal of England. Cer- 
tainly not, when theoretical astronomy is all supposition together! 
The inconsistency is in teaching the world that the thing supposed is 
a fact. Since, then, the " motion" of the Earth is supposition only — 
since, indeed, it is necessary to suppose it at all — it is plain that it is 
a fiction and not a fact; and, since " mobility" and *' sphericity" stand 
or fall together, we have before us a proof that Earth is not a globe. 

93. We have seen that astronomers — to give us a level surfacaon 



24 OlsTB HTJNDEED PROOFS. 

wMch to live — have cut off one-half of tlie "globe" in a certain pic- 
ture in their books. [See page 6.] Now, astronomers having done 
this, one-half of the substance of their " spherical theory'' is given up I 
Since, then, the theory must stand or fall in its entirety, it has really 
fallen when the half is gone. NothiDg remains, then, but a plane 
Earth, which is, of course, a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

94. In "Cornell's Geography" there is an "Illustrated proof of 
the Form of the Earth." A curved line on which is represented a ship 
in four positions, as she sails away from an observer, is an arc of 72 
degrees, or one-fifth of the supposed circumference of the *' globe" — 
about 5,000 miles. Ten such ships as those which are given in the 
picture would reach the full length of the "arc," making 500 miles as 
the length of the ship. The man, in the pictui'e, who is watching the 
ship as she sails away, is about 200 miles high; and the tower, from 
which he takes an elevated view, at least 500 miles high. These are 
the proportions, then, of men, towers, and ships which are necessary 
in order to see a ship, in her different positions, as she " rounds the 
curve" of the " great hill of water" over which she is supposed to be 
sailing: for, it must be remembered that this supposed "proof" de- 
pends upon lines and angles of vision which, if enlarged, would still 
retain their characteristics. Now, since ships are not built 500 miles 
long, with masts in ^oroportion, and men are not quite 200 miles high, 
it is not what it is said to be — a> proof of rotundity — but, either an 
ignorant farce or a cruel piece of deception. In short, it is a proof 
that the Earth is not a globe. 

95. In " Cornell's Intermediate Geography," (1881) page 12, is an 
" Illustration of the Natural Divisions of Land and Water." This 
illustration is so nicely drawn that it affords, at once, a striking proof 
that Earth is a plane. It is true to nature, and bears the stamp of 
no astronomer-artist. It is a pictorial proof that Earth is not a globe. 

96. If we refer to the diagram in " Cornell's Geography," page 4, 
and notice the ship in its position the most remote from the observer, 
we shall find that, though it is about 4,000 miles away, it is the same 
size as the ship that is nearest to him, distant about 700 miles ! This 
is an illustration of the way in which astronomers ignore the laws of 
perspective. This course is necessary, or they would be compelled to 
lay bare the fallacy of their dogmas. In short, there is, in this matter, 
a proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

97. Mr. Hind, the English astronomer, says: "The simplicity 
with which the seasons are explained by the revolution of the Earth 
in her orbit and the obliquity of the ecliptic, may certainly be adduced 
as a strong presumptive proof of the Ci^rrectness" — of the Newtonian 
theory; " for on no other rational suppositions with respect to the 
relations of the Earth and Sua, can these and other as well-known 
phenomena, be accounted foi\" But, as true philosophy has no " sup- 
positions" at all — and has nothing to do with " suppositions" — and 
the phenomena spoken of are thoroughly explained by facts, the 
"presumptive proof" falls to the ground, covered with the ridicule it 
so richly deserves ; and out of the dust of Mr. Hind's "rational sup- 
positions" we see standing before us a proof that Earth is not a globe, 

98. Mr. Hind speaks of the astronomer watching a star as it is 



EAETH IS NOT A GLOBE. 25 

** carried across the telescope by the diurnal revolution of the Earth." 
Now, this is nothing but downright absurdity, Ko motion of the 
Earth could possibly carry a star across a telescope or an}i;hing else. 
If the star is carried across anything at all, it is the star that moves, 
not the thing across which it is carried! Besides, the idea that the 
Earth, if it were a globe, could possibly move in an orbit of nearly 
600,000,000 of miles with such exactitude that the cross-hairs in a 
telescope fixed on its surface would appear to glide gently over a star 
**inillions of millions" of miles away is simply monstrous; whereas, 
with a FIXED telescope, it matters not the distance of the stars, though 
we suppose them to be as far off as the astronomer supposes them to be ; 
for, as Mr. Proctor himself says, *' the further away they are, the less 
they will seem to shift," Why, in the name of common sense, should 
observers have to fix their telescopes on solid stone bases so that they 
should not move a hair's-breadth, if the Earth on which they fix them 
move at' the rate of nineteen miles in a second? Indeed, to telieve 
that Mr. Proctor's mass of " six thousand million million million tons" 
is ''rolling, surging, flying, darting on through space for ever" with 
a velocity compared with which a shot from a cannon is a " very 
slowcoach," with such unerring accuracy that a telescope fixed on 
granite pillars in an observatory will not enable a lynx-eyed astrono- 
mer to detect a variation in its onward motion of the thousandth part 
of a hair's-breadth is to conceive a miracle compared with which all 
the miracles on record put together would sink into utter insignifi- 
cance. Captain P. J. Morrison, the late compiler of "Zadkeil's Al- 
manac," says: "We declare that this *motion'is all mere 'bosh'; 
and that the arguments which uphold it are, when examined with an 
eye that seeks for truth only, mere nonsense, and childish absurdity." 
Since, then, these absurd theories are of no use to men in their senses, 
and since there is no necessity for anything of the kind in Zetetic phi- 
losophy, it is a " strong presumptive proof" — as Mr. Hind would say — 
that the Zetetic philosophy is true, and, therefore, a proof that Earth 
is not a globe. 

99. Mr. Hind speaks of two great mathematicians differing only 
fifty-five yards in their estimate of the Earth's diameter. Why, Sir 
John Herschel, in his celebrated work, cuts off 480 miles of the same 
thing to get " round numbers !" This is like splitting a hair on one 
side of the head and shaving all the hair ofi* on the other ! Oh, 
"science!" Can there be any truth in a science like this? All the 
exactitude in astronomy is in Practical astronomy — not Theoretical. 
Centuries of observation have made practical astronomy a noble art 
and science, based — as we have a thousand times proved it to be — on 
a fixed Earth; and we denounce this pretended exactitude on one side 
and the reckless indifference to figures on the other as the basest trash, 
and take from it a proof that the " science" which tolerates it is a false 
— instead of being an " exact" — science, and we have a proof that the 
Earth is not a globe. 

100. The Sun, as he travels round over the surface of the Earth, 
brings " noon" to all places on the successive meridians which he 
crosses : his journey being made in a westerly direction, places east of 
the Sun's position have had their noon, whilst places to the west of the 



26 OlfE HUIsDEED PROOFS. 

Sun's position have still to get it. Tlierefore, if we travel easterly, 
we arrive at those parts of the Eai'th where " time" is more advanced, 
the watch in our pocket has to be " put on," or we may be said to 
" gain time." If, on the other hand, we travel westerly, we arrive at 
places where it is still '' mornitig," the watch has to be *' put back," 
and it may be said that we "lose time." But, if we travel easterly so 
as to cross the 180th meridian, there is a loss, there, of a day, which 
will neutralize the gain of a whole circumnavigation ; and, if we ti'avel 
westerly, and cross the same meridian, we experience the gain of a 
day, which will compensate for the loss during a complete circumnavi- 
gation in that direction. The fact of losing or gaining time in sailing 
round the world, then, instead of being evidence of the Earth's "ro- 
tundity," as it is imagined to be, is, in its practical exemplification, an 
everlasting proof that the Earth is not a globe. 

" And what then ?" "Vv'hat then ! Xo intelligent man will ask the 
question; and he who may be called an intellectual man will know 
that the demonstration of the fact that the Earth is not a globe is the 
grandest snapping of the chains of slavery that ever took place in the 
world of ]iteratur.e or science. The floodgates of human knowledge 
are opened afresh and an impetus is given to investigation and dis- 
covery where all Avas stagnation, bewilderment and dreams ! Is it 
nothing to know that infidelity cannot stand against the mighty rush 
of the living water of Truth that must flow on and on until the world 
shall look "up" once more "to Him that stretched out the earth 
above the waters" — "to Him that made great lights: — the Sun to 
rule by day — the Moon and Stars to rule by night ?" Is it nothing 
to know and to feel that the heavenly bodies were made for man, and 
that the monstrous dogma of an infinity of worlds is overthrown for 
ever? The old-time English "Family Herald," for July 25, 1885, 
says, in its editorial, that " The earth's revolution on its own axis was 
denied, against Galileo and Copernicus, by the whole weight of the 
Church of Eome." And, in an article on " The Pride of Ignorance ," 
too ! — the editor not knowing that if the Earth had an axis to call its 
"own" — which the Church well knew it had not, and, therefore, could 
not admit — it would not "revolve" on it ; and that the theoretical 
motion on an axis is that of rotation, and not revolution ! Is it nothing 
to know that " the whole weight of the Church of Eome" was thrown in 
the right direction, although it has swayed back again like a gigantic 
pendulum that will regain its old position before long ? Is it nothing 
to know that the "pride of ignorance" is on the other side? Is it 
nothing to know that, with all the Bradlaughs and Ingersolls of the 
world telling ns to the contrary — Biblical science is true ? Is it no- 
thing to know that we are living on a body at rest, and not upon a 
heavenly body whirling and dashing through space in every conceiv- 
able way and with a velocity utterly inconceivable ? Is it nothing to 
know that we can look stedfastly up to Heaven instead of having no 
heaven to look up to at all ? Is it nothing, indeed, to be in the broad 
daylight of Truth and to be able to go on towards a possible perfection, 
instead of being wrapped in the darknessof error on the rough ocean of 
life, and finding ourselves stranded at last — God alone knows where ? 
Baltimore, Maryland, H. S. A., Aurrust, 1885. 



APPENDIX TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The following letters remain unanswered, at the time of going to 

press, December 7, 1885: — 

" 71 Chew Street, Baltimore, Nov. 21, 1885. R. A. Proctor, Esq., 
St. Joe, Mo. Sir : I have sent you two copies of my ' One Hundred 
Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe,' and, as sey«ral weeks have 
since elapsed and I have not heard from you, I write to inform you 
that if you have any remarks to make concerning that publication, 
and will let me have them in the course of a week or ten days, I will 
print them — if you say what you may wish to say in about five or six 
hundred words — in the second edition of the pamphlet, which will 
very soon be called for. Allow me to say that, as this work is not 
only * <ledicated' to you but attacks your teachings, the public will 
be looking for something from your pen very shortly. I hope they 
may not be disappointed. Yours in the cause of truth, W. Carpenter." 

" 71 Chew Street, Baltimore, Nov. 24, 1885. Spencer F. Baird, Esq., 
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Sir: 
— I had the pleasure, several weeks ago, of sending you my * One 
Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe.' I hope you received 
them. A second edition is now called for, and I should esteem it a 
favor if you would write me a few words concerning them that I may 
print with this forthcoming edition as an appendix to them. If you 
think any of the * Hundred Proofs' are unsound, I will print all you 
may have to say about them, if not over 400 words, as above stated. 
I have made Richard A. Proctor, Esq.^ a similar offer, giving him, of 
course, a little more space. I feel sur^ that the very great import- 
ance of this matter will prompt you to give it your immediate atten- 
tion. I have the honor to be, sir, yours sincerel}^ Wm. Carpenter." 

Copies of the first edition of this pamphlet have been sent to the lead- 
ing newspapers of this country and of England, and to very many of 
the most renowned scientific men of the two countries — from the As- 
tronomer Royal, of England, to Dr. Oilman, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, Baltimore. Several copies have been sent to graduates of 
different Universities, on application, in consequence of the subjoined 
- advertisement, which has appeared in several newspapers : — 

" WANTED. — A Scholar of ripe attainments to review Carpenter's 
* One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe.' Liberal remu- 
neration offered. Apply to Wm. Carpenter, 71 Chew Street, Balti- 
more. N. B. — No one need apply who has not courage enough to 
append his name to the Review for publication." 

J|@* We should be pleased to hear from some of the gentlemen in 
time for the insertion of their courageous attacks in the Third edition I 



OPINIONS OE THE PRESS. 
" This can only be described as an extraordinary book. . . His 
arguments are certainly plausible and ingenious, and even the reader 
who does not agree with him will find a singular interest and fascina- 
tion in analyzing the * one hundred proofs.' . . The proofs are set 
forth in brief, forcible, compact, very clear paragraphs, the meaning 
of which can be comprehended at a glance," — Daily News, Sept. 24, 



28 OKE HUNDRED PROOFS. i"' 

" Througliout the entire work there are discernible traces of a strong 
and reliant mind, and such reliance as can only have been acquired 
by unbiassed observation, laborious investigation, and final conviction ; 
and the masterly handling of so profound a theme displays evidence 
of grave and active researches. There is no groping wildly about in 
the vagueness of theoretical speculations, no empty hypotheses inflated 
with baseless assertions and false illustrations, but the practical and 
perspicuous conclusions of a mind emancipated from the prevailing 
influences of fashionable credence and popular prejudice, and subor- 
dinate only to those principles emanating from reason and common 
sense."— H. D. T., Woodberry News, Sept. 26, 1885. 

"We do not profess to be able to overthrow any of his ^ Proofs.' 
And we must admit, and our readers will be inclined to do the same, 
that it is certainly a strange thing that Mr. Wm. Carpenter, or any- 
one else, should be able to bring together * One Hundred Proofs 
of anything in the world if that thing is not right, while we keep on 
asking for one proof, that is really a satisfactory one, on the other side. 
K these * Hundred Proofs' are nonsense, we cannot prove them to be 
so, and some of our scientific men had better try their hands, and we 
think they will try their heads pretty badly into the bargain." — The 
"Woodberry News, Baltimore, Sept. 19, 1885. C- 

" This IS a remarkable pamphlet. The author has the courage of 
his convictions, and presents them with no little ingenuity, however 
musty they may appear to nineteenth century readers. He takes for 
his text a statement of Prof. Proctor's that ^ The Earth on which we 
live and move seems to be flat,' and proceeds with great alacrity to 
marshal his hundred arguments in proof that it not only seems but 
is flat, ' an extended plane, stretched out in all directions away from 
the central North.' He enumerates all the reasons ofi'ered by scien- 
tists for a belief in the rotundity of the earth and evidently to his own 
complete satisfaction refutes them. He argues that the heavenly 
bodies were made solely to light this world, that the belief in an infi- 
nity of worlds is a monstrous dogma, contrary to Bible teaching, and 
the great stronghold of the infidel ; and that the Church of Eome 
was right when it threw the whole weight of its influence against 
Galileo and Copernicus when they taught the revolution of the earth 
on its axis." — Michigan Christian Herald, Oct. 15, 1885. 

" So many proofs." — Every Saturday, Sept. 26, 1885. 

'*A highly instructive and very entertaining work. . . The 
book is well worth reading." — Protector, Baltimore, Oct. 3, 1885. 

" The book will be sought after and read with peculiar interest." 
— Baltimore Labor Free Press, Oct. 17, 1885. 

" Some of them [the proofs] are of sufficient force to demand an 
answer from the advocates of the popular theory." — Baltimore Episco- 
pal Methodist, October 28, 1885. 

"Showing considerable smartness both in conception and argu- 
ment." — Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, C, Oct. 21, 1885. 

" Forcible and striking in the extreme." — Brooklyn Market Journal. 
Baltimore, Maryland, U. S, A., December 7, 1885. 



[Appendix to Third Edition.] 
COPY OF LETTER FROM RICHARD A. PROCTOR, ESQ. 

5 Montague Street, Russell Square, London, W.C, 12 Dec, 1885. 
W. Carpenter, Esq., Baltimore. 

Dear Sir, — I am obliged to you for the copy of your " One 
Hundred Proofs that the Earth is not a Globe," and for the evident 
kindness of your intention in dedicating the work to me. The only 
further remark it occurs to me to offer is that I call myself rather a 
student of astronomy than an astronomer. 

Yours faithfully, 

RICHARD A. PROCTOR. 
P. S. Perhaps the pamphlet might more precisely be called " One 
hundred diflSculties for young students of astronomy." 

[Appendix to Fourth Edition.] 
COPY OF LETTER FROM SPENCER F. BAIRD, ESQ. 

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, Jan. 6, 1886. 
Dear Sir, — A copy of your " One Hundred Proofs that the 
Earth is not a globe" was duly received, and was deposited in Library 
of Congress October 8, 1884. [1885 ] A pressure of much more 
important work has prevented any attempt at reviewing these hundred 
proofs: — which however have doubtless been thoroughly investigated 
by the inquisitive astronomers and geodesists of the last four centuries. 
Yours very respectfully, 

SPENCER F. BAIRD, Secretary S. I. 
Mr. "William Carpenter, 71, Chew Street, Baltimore, Md. 

Copy of a letter from one of the several applicants for the " One 
Hundred Proofs" for the purpose of reviewing them. The" writer is 
Professor of Mathematics at the High School, Auburn, N. Y., and, in 
his application for the pamphlet, says : "Am a Yale graduate and a 
Yale Law School man: took the John A Porter Prize (literary) 
($250) at Yale College." 

Auburn, Dec. 10th, 1885. My Dear Sir : Your treatise was re- 
ceived. I have looked it over and noted it somewhat. A review of 
it to do it justice would be a somewhat long and laborious task. Be- 
fore I undertook so much thought I would write and ask What and 
how much you expect : how elaborately you wished it discussed : and 
what remuneration might be expected. It sets forth many new and 
strange doctrines which would have to be thoroughly discussed and 
mastered before reviewed. I am hard at work at present but would 
like to tackle this if it would be for my interest as well as yours. 
Hope you will let me know very soon. Very respectfully. 

To Mr. W. Carpenter, Baltimore, Md. FRANK STRONG. 

NOTE. — ^Unless a man be willing to sell his soul for his supposed 
worldly ** interest," he will not dare to '* tackle" the *' One Hundred 
Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe." No man with well-balanced 
faculties will thus condemn himself. We charge the mathematicians 
of the world that, if they cannot say what they think of this pamphlet 
in a dozen words, they are entitled to no other name than — cowards 1 

Baltimore, Maryland, May 22, 1886. 



AP PEKDIX TO THE FIFTH EDITIO K. 

Editorial from the "New York World," of August 2, 1886:— 
THE EAETH IS FLAT. 

The iconoclastic tendencies of the age have received new impetus 
from Mr. William Carpenter, who comes forward with one hundred 
proofs that the earth is not a globe. It will be a sad shock to many 
conservatives who have since their childhood fondly held to the con- 
viction that "the earth is round like an orange, a little flattened at 
the poles." To find that, after all, we have been living all these years 
on a prosaic and unromantic plane is far from satisfactory. We have 
rather gloried in the belief that the semi-barbarous nations on the 
other side of the earth did not carry their heads in the same direction 
in which ours point. It is hard to accept the assertion that the can- 
nibals on savage islands are walking about on the same level with the 
civilized nations of our little world. 

But Mr. Carpenter has one hundred proofs that such is the un- 
satisfactory truth. Not only that, but the iconoclast claims that we 
are not whirling through space at a terrible rate, but are absolutely 
stationary. Some probability is given to this proposition by the present 
hot weather. The earth seems to be becalmed. If it were moving at 
the rate of nineteen miles a second would n't there be a breeze ? This 
question is thrown out as perhaps offering the one hundred and first 
proof that the earth is not a globe. Mr. Carpenter may obtain the 
proof in detail at the office at our usual rates. A revolution will, of 
course, take place in the school geographies as soon as Mr. Carpenter's 
theories have been closely studied. No longer will the little boy 
answer the question as to the shape of the earth by the answer which 
has come ringing down the ages, *'It's round like a ball, sir." No. 
He '11 have to use the unpoetic formula, " It 's flat like a pancake, sir." 

But, perhaps, after we have become used to the new idea it will not 
be unpleasant. The ancients flourished in the belief that the earth 
was a great plane. Why shouldn't we be equally fortunate ? It may 
be romantic but it is not especially comforting to think that the earth 
is rushing through space twisting and curving like a gigantic ball 
delivered from the hand of an enormous pitcher. Something in the 
universe might make a base hit if we kept on and we would be knocked 
over an aerial fence and never found. Perhaps, after all, it is safer 
to live on Mr, Carpenter's stationary plane. 

The " Eecord," of Philadelphia, June 5, 1886, has the following, in 
the Literary Notes: — '^ Under the title One Hundred Proofs that the 
Earth is Not a Globe, Mr. William Carpenter, of Baltimore, publishes 
a pamphlet which is interestiag on account of the originality of the 
views advanced, and, from his standpoint, the very logical manner in 
which he seeks to establish their truth. Mr. Carpenter is a disciple 
of what is called the Zetetic school of philosophy, and was referee for 
Mr. John Hampden when that gentleman, in 1870, made a wager 
with Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, of England, that the surface of standing 
water is always level, and therefore that the earth is flat. Since then 
he has combated his views with much earnestness, both in writing and 
on the platform, and, whatever opinions we may have on the subject, 
a perusal of his little book will prove interesting and afi'ord room for 
careful study." 



EARTH IS KOT A GLOBE. 31 

" The motto which he puts on the cover — * Upright, Downright, 
Straightforward' — is well chosen, for it is an npright lie, a downright 
invention, and a straightforward butt of a bull at a locomotive." — 
The Florida Times Union, Dec. 13, 1885. Editor, Charles H. Jones. 
[Pray, Mr. Jones, tell ns what you mean by ** an upright lie.'' 1 ! ] 

** We have received a pamphlet from a gentleman who thinks to 
prove that the earch is fi.it, but who succeeds only in showing that he 
is himself one." — New York Herald, Dec. 19, 1885. [The reviewer, in 
this case, is, no doubt, a very "sharp" man, but his honesty — if he 
have any at all — is jagged and worn out. The " quotations" which he 
gives are fraudulent, there being nothing like them in the pamphlet.] 

" The author of the pamphlet is no * flat,' though he may perhaps 
be called a * crank.' " — St. Catharines (Can.) Evening Jour., Dec. 23. 

" To say that the contents of the book are erudite and entertaining 
does not do Mr. Carpenter's astronomical ability half credit." — The 
Sunday Ti'uth, Buffalo, Dec. 27, 1885. 

" The entire work is very ingeniously gotten up. . The matter of 
perspective is treated in a very clever manner, and the coming up of 
* hull-down' vessels on the horizon is illustrated by several well- 
worded examples." — Buffalo Times, Dec. 28, 1885. 

'^ The erudite author, who travels armed with plans and specifica- 
tions to fire at the skeptical at a moment's notice, feels that he is do- 
ing a good work, and that his hundred anti-globular conclusions must 
certainly knock the general belief in territorial rotundity out of time." 
. . *' We trust that the distinguished author who has failed to coax 
Richard Proctor into a public discussion may find as many citizens 
willing to invest two shillings in his peculiar literature as he de- 
serves."— Buffalo Courier, Dec. 27, 1885, and Jan. 1, 1886. 

** It is a pleasure now to see a man of Mr. Carpenter's attainments 
fall into line and take up the cudgels against the theories of the sci- 
entists who have taught this pernicious doctrine [the sphericity of 
the earth]." — Rochester Morning Herald, Jan. 13, 1886. 

** As the game stands now, there is ^one horse' for Prof. Carpenter.'* 
—Buffalo World, Jan. 16, 1886. 

" It is interesting to show how much can be said in favor of the 
flat world theory. . It is fairly well written, although, we believe 
filled with misstatements of facts," — Rochester Democrat and Chron- 
icle, Jan. 17, 1886. [We " believe" the editor cannot point one out.] 

*' It is certainly worth twice the price, and will be read by all with 
peculiar interest." — -Scranton Truth, March 8, 1886. 

*' Mr. William Caepentee. has come to Washington with a *' hun- 
dred proofs that the earth is not a globe." He has a pamphlet on the 
subject which is ingenious, to say the least, and he is ominously eager 
to discuss the matter with any one who still clings to the absurd pre- 
judices of the astronomers." — The Hatchet, May 9, 1886. 

" It contains some curious problems for solution, and the author 
boldly asserts that until they are solved the globular theory of the 
earth remains unproven, and is fallacious, &c." — The Presbyterian, 
Philadelphia, June 19, 1886. 



S^ One hukdeed proofs. 

" His reasoning is, to say the least, plausible, and the book interest- 
ing."— The Item, Philadelphia, June 10, 1886. 

*' Mr. Carpenter seems to have made a thorough investigation of the 
subject, and his arguments are practical and to the point." — Sunday- 
Mercury, Philadelphia, June 13, 1886. 

" A gentleman has just called at the editorial rooms with a 
pamphlet which is designed to demonstrate that the earth is not a 
globe, but a flat disk ; he also laid before us a chart from which it 
plainly appeared that the earth is a circular expanse of land, with 
the north pole in the exact center, and the Antarctic Sea flowing all 
around the land. . . We went on to state that we lodged the care 
of all astronomical questions in the hands of Eev. R. M. Luther, to 
whom these perplexing matters are but as child's play. . . . Our 
readers may, therefore, expect at an early date a judicial view of the 
astronomical and cosmological situation." — National Baptist, Phila- 
delphia, July 8, 1886. Editor, Dr. Wayland. [We hope that the 
Eev. R. M. Luther will give us the means of publishing his decision 
before many more editions of the " Hundred Proofs" be issued. We 
are afraid that he finds the business much more than " child's play."] 

*' One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe," by William 
Carpenter, is published by the author, whose novel and rather startling 
position is certainly fortified by a number of argumentative points, 
which, if they do not shake the reader's preconceived notions on the 
subject, will, at least, be found entertaining for the style in which 
they are put." — Evening Star, Philadelphia, July 22, 1886. 

** His * Proofs' go a long way towards convincing many that his ideas 
on the subject are practical and sensible." — Fashion Journal, Phila- 
delphia, July, 1886. Editor, Mrs. F. E. Benedict. 

"'One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe' is a curious 
little pamphlet that we can commend to all interested in astronomy 
and related sciences. It may not upset received notions on the sub- 
ject, but will give cause for much serious reflection. Published by 
the author, Wm. Carpenter, Baltimore, Md. Price 25 cents." — The 
Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia, July 81, 1886. 

" Here now is an able thinker of Baltimore, Professor William 
Caepeitter, who presents the claims of the Zetetic philosophy to be 
considered the leading issue of our times. . One of the great proofs 
of the truth of the philosophy is that the regular astronomers do not 
dare to gainsay it. . . They are well aware there is no South pole. 
, . Prof. Carpenter, in a treatise that has reached us, furnishes 100 
proofs that the earth is flat, and while we cannot say that we under- 
stand all of them we appreciate the earnestness of his appeals to the 
moral people of the community to rise up and overthrowthe miserable 
system of error that is being forced upon our children in the public 
schools, vitiating the very foundations of knowledge. What issue 
can be more noble or inspiring than Truth vs. Error? Here is an 
issue on which there can be no trifling or compromise. In the great 
contest between those who hold the earth is flat and they who contend 
that it is round, let the flats assert themselves." — Milwaukee Sentinel, 
Aug., 1886. [From a long article, '' The Great Zetetic Issue."] 



"letters to professor oilman, of the JOHNS 
HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 



71 Ohew Street, Baltimore, September 10, 1886. 
Prof. Gilman, Johns Hopkins University — Sir: On the 21st ultimo 
I wrote to ask you if you received the pamphlet, which I left for 
you at the University twelve months ago, entitled *' One Hundred 
Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe," and, if so, that you would 
kindly give me your opinion concerning it. I write, now, to ask you 
if you received my letter. I am quite sure that you will consider that 
the importance oi the subject fully warrants the endeavor ou my part 
to gain the views which may be entertained by you respecting it. 
The fifth edition will soon be called for, and anything you may urge 
— for or against — I shall be happy to insert in the ''appendix." I 
send, herewith, a copy of the fourth edition of the pamphlet. 

Yours sincerely, William Carpenter. 

71 Ohew Street, Baltimore, October 7, 1886. 
Professor Gilman — Dear Sir : I am now preparing the appendix for 
the fifth edition of my *' One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a 
Globe," and I should be glad to receive your opinion of this work to 
insert in the said appendix. I can offer you from a few lines to a 
page, or tAvo if necessary. Of course, if this work as a whole be a 
fraud, it must be fraudulent in all its parts'; and each one of the 
*' hundi'ed proofs" must contain a fallacy of some kind or other, and 
the thing would justify your disapprobation — expressed in few words 
or many. If, on the other hand, the work is what it professes to be, 
it will certainly claim your approval. Yours sincerely, W. Carpenter. 

71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 14, 1886. 
Prof. Gilman — Dear Sir : A week ago I wrote you a letter to tell 
you that I should be glad to receive your opinion of the " Hundred 
Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe," of which work 5,000 copies are 
now in circulation. I wrote this work (26 pages) in one week, with- 
out neglecting my daily business: surely, you can reply to it in a 
week from this time. I will give you from one to four pages, if you 
vvnsh that amount of space, and send you fifty copies, if you desire to 
have them, without putting you to the slightest expense. I will even 
take any suggestion you please to make as to the title which shall be 
given to this extra edition of my work containing your reply or opin- 
ions. I should be sorry to be un Jer the necessity of printing this letter, 
with others, in my next edition, in the place of any such reply or ex- 
pression of opinion ;_ for I feel sure there is no one in Baltimore who is 
more c^^pable of giving an opinion on this great subject. Trusting to 
hear from you in a few days, I am, Dear Sir, Yours truly, 

William Carpenter. 

71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 22, 1886. 
Piof. Gilman — Sir: This is the fifth letter — and the last — to you, 
asking you for an expression of your opinion concerning the " One 
Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe." Which would you 
prefer — to see my words, or yours, in print ? I give you a week in 
which to decide. Truly, A¥illiam Carpenter. 



THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, OF BALTIMORE. 



We are iiitlebted to " Scribner's Monthly" for li e following remarks 
concernino this institution : — " By the will of JohL5' Hopkins, a mer- 
chant of Baltimore, the sum of $7,000,000 was devoted to the endow- 
ment of a University and a Plospital, §3,500,000 being devoted to each. 
This is the largest single endowment ever made to an institution of 
learning in this country. To the bequest no burdensome conditions 
were attached." . . " The Physiological Laboratory of the Johns 
Hopkins has no peer in this country, and the other laboratories few 
equals and no superiors." 

In the First Annual Report of the University (1876) we read: — 
*' Early in the month of February, 1874, the Trustees of the University 
having been apprised by the Executors of Johns Hopkins, of the 
endowment provided by his will, took proper steps for organization 
and entering upon the practical duties of the trust, and addressed 
themselves to the selection of a President of the University. With 
this view the Trustees sought the counsel and advice of the heads of 
several of the leading seats of learning in the country, and, upon 
unanimous recommendation and endorsement from these sources, the 
choice fell upon Mr. Daniel C. GIL:^^AIs", who, at the time, occupied 
the position of President of the University of California. 

" Mr. Oilman is a graduate of Yale College, and for several years 
before his call to California, was a Professor in that institution, taking 
an active part in the organization and development of '.The Sheffield 
Scientific School of Yale College,' at New Haven. L'pm receiving an 
invitation to Baltimore, he resigned the office which he had held in 
California since 1872, and entered upon the service of The Johns 
Hopkins University, May 1, 1875." — Galloway Cheston. 

" In the hunt for truth, we are not first hunters, and then men ; we 
are first and always men, then hunters." — U. C. Oilman, Oct., 1883. 

The "One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe" have 
been running around within the observation of the master huntsman 
and his men for a year or more: now let the hunters prove themselves 
to be men; and the men, hunters. It is impossible to be successful 
hunters for Truth, if Error be allowed to go scot-free. Nay, it is ut- 
terly impossible for the Johns Hopkins University to answer the pur- 
pose of its founder if its hunters for Truth do not first hunt Error 
with their hounds and hold it up to ridicule, a.nd then, and always,, 
keep a watchful eye for the Truth lest they should injure it by their 
hot haste or wound it with their weapons. Prof. Daxiel C. Gilma^^, 
we charge you that the duties of your office render it imperative that, 
sooner or later, you lea.d your men into the field against the hundred 
proofs, to show the world that they are hunters worthy of the name — 
if, in your superior judgment, you decide that there is Error to be slain 
— or, show that your hunters are worthy of the better name of meii, 
by inducing tliem to follow and sustain yon, out of the beaten track, 
in your endeavors to uphold God's Truth, if, in your superior judg- 
ment, you tell them, " There is a Truth to be upheld ! " 

[End of the Appendix to the Fifth Edition. Nov. 9, 1886.] 



PROFESSO-.. PROCTOR'S PROOFS. 



'*'A proof, a proof!" crief ^tndeiit : Brown ; says Proctor, "Very well, 

If that is all you war ^, indeedV I 've plenty I can tell: 
But really I have sc&"' jely tim^ or ptjtience, now, to do it; 

You ought to know the earth's a globe, then, asaglobe you'd view it. 
I knew it long ago : in truth,' 't was taught me in. my cqt,, 

And, then, tooold Was/I to dout)t-^toQ young to say 't was not !" .; 
"And you 'have never questioned it?' ' * '\Yhy should J, .-noWji,fgiend;B?own ? 

I took it all for granted, just as daddy laid it d oval.... _ r- ^\ -, - .-' 
And as my duty clearly was,-— no,, other w;^;y X.^aw it — -xfij •:, ,.] 

Arid that's the reason why ,Vof' course, a globe 1 always_.c|]'aw;it. 
And so you .'want ^a proof,! Ai^ ha : , j ust cross -the broad Atlantic, ^; ^ -, y 

And theii a proof so, strong you'll have^xv-itb joy: 'twill sendj^u fe-antio I'* 
" Ybii .mean, that I shall see the ships come round the old earth's side — 

AndHip — and. o'er the ' watery hi.U'— as into..view .they glide-! -- 
No, Procipr, iio>. ,you;s^y, yourself, the earth so vast, j:t\ size is, 

The surface 'seeing a, level one — indeed, to sight^ it.jises. . , 
A.nd"ships, when, coming into yiew, seeiii ' bearing. down npon-i\s-.Vr .rr^ . 

?S^P, ProcJorj.le't.pjS naye a prp,of— no, no^ come-^mercy on nsU" 
' Wen,'Bfbwn ,' 1 'ye proofs thai ^erve to. show that earth, indeexl, a bail 't is , 

'But it you won't telieve them— well, ^ot niine^but,yo.urs the fault is. 
j\\^hy, ever}7^body, surely, knows, a. planet muet be round,' ' 
I And, siuce'the eartli a planet is, its shape at cnce is found. 
We 'know it tr,;;i,vels round the-Sun, a thousaa^d miles a minute. 

And, ih'erefore, it must-be a globe : a flat earth eouldn't spin it. 
Wp ^^now it oh itsj^i s t^irn s witii motion, unperceived ; . 

And^tiierefore, sUTi'ly,. plain it is, its shape must be believed. 
We'k:ndw its weight put'down.in tans exactly a^ we, weigli'dit ; 

'j^ind, therefore,, v. hat could clerarer be,.if Vv^e ourselves had^made it ? 
^Y^'know its age— gaii, figures lieP^its size— -its weights— its motion ; 

. Anci iheu'to B;tyv.'V-^i.s all my eye,,' shoAvs ni.adness in thenotion. 
Beeides : ,Hy ptner worlds/and suris.-^some coojing down — some hofcl— 

IIo\5r'can you say, you want a proof, with all th,ese in thq pot?; '- ^, 
No,' Mown : just let us go ^head ^ don't intexfeire at ali- 



Some 



other day 1 '11 come and bring a proof. tl^at earth 's, a, ball ! " 



" Xo, Proctor^ no:" said Mr,,BroY"n;^ ."-''tis .nDvyftoo,iate:to try it :- 

A hundred jproofs are now put' down (axi,djy^\i,.panno,t deny it) 
Thaticarth is not' a globe, at all, and4pes -riqt move through space : 

And your philosophy I call a. sh ftme and ia -.disgrace. 
We have to interfere,' andldo .the best tliat;\ve. are able 

To €ruf^li your'tiieories and tq^lay.tbe facts "apon the table. 
God'^s Truth is' what the people n?Qd, and men will strive to preach it ; 

Andfall your efforts are in vajfiy tlioughyou should dare impeach it. 
Yoti^ve giv'^n half. your, tJieor^V,iTip; the people have to know it:— ,- 

^.Oti '^niile, but, then,, 'jfour .book 's enough : for that will plainly show 
One-hatt.y6i?_c theory 's gone, and, soon, the other half goes,, too : 

^OJ,:bei;t^' 'kirn, about,; at once, and show what you ctia- dq,. . , 
Ow^' lip (dp. peopfe have to do, when they have bei^n deceived), 

And Jielp'the searcher after Truth of doubt to, be reliev.ed, 
*The only amaranthine flower is virtue ;'^4on'.t^ forget it — 

* The only lasting treasure, TurTHj'-^and never strive to let it." 



ODDS AND ENDS. 



^^to 



" We do not possess a single evident proof in fafor of tlie rotation" — 
f the earth — " around its axis." — Dr. Shcepfer. 

" To prove the impossibility of the revolution of the earth around 
the sun, will present no difficulty. We can bring self-evident proof to 
the. contrary." — Dr. Shoepfer. 

" To reform and not to chastise, I am afraid is impossible. . To attack 
views in the abstract without touching persons maybe safe fighting, in- 
deed, but it is fighting with shadow^s." — Pope. 

*' Both revelation and science agree as to the shape of the earth. The 
psalmist calls it the * round world,' even when it was universally supposed 
to be a flat extended plain." — Rev. Dr. Brewer. [What a mistake ! ? ] 

*' If the earth were a perfect sphere of equal density throughout, the 
aters of the ocean would be absolutely level — that is to say, would have 
a spherical- surface everywhere equidistant from the earth's centre.'' — 
English " Family Herald," February 14, 1885 ! 

*' The more I consider them the more I doubt of all systems of astron- 
omy, I doubt whether we can with certainty know either the distance or 
magnitude of any star in the firmament; else why do astronomers so im- 
mensely differ, even with regard to the distance of the sun from the eartii? 
some affirming it to he only three, and others ninety millions of miles. — 
Rev. John AYesley, in his *' Journal." 

" I don't know that I ever hinted heretofore that the aeronaut may 
well be the most sceptical man about the rotundity of the earth. Philo- 
sophy imposes the truth upon us; but the view of the earth from the 
elevation of a balJoon is that of an immense terrestrial basin, the deeper 
part of which is that directly under one's feet. A& we ascend, the earth 
beneath us seems to recede — actually to sink away —while the horizon 
gradually and gracefully lifts a diversified slope, streu-hing away farther 
an<l farther to a line that, at the highest elevation, seems to clcse with 
the sky. Thus, upon a clear day, the aeronaut feels as .^f suspended at 
about an equal distance between the vast blue oceacic conf^ave above and 
the equally expanded terrestrial basin below." — Mr. Elliott, Baltiu.c-^e. 

In the *' Scientific American," for April 27, 1878, is a full repoit of a 
lecture delivered at Berlin, by Dr. Shoepfer, headed "Our Earth Motion- 
less," which concludes thus:' — "The poet Goethe, whose prophetic views 
remained daring his life wholly unnoticed, ?aid the following: * In what- 
ever way or manner may have occurred this business, I must still say that 
I curse this modern theory of cosmugony, and hope that perchance there 
may appear in due time some young scientist of genius who will pick up 
courage enough to upset this universal iy disseminated delirium of lunatics. 
The most terrible thing in all this is that one is obliged to repeatedly hear 
the assurance that all the physicists adhere to the same opinion on this 
question. But one who is acquainted with nijn knows how it is done ; 
good, intellectual, and courageous heads adorn their mind with such an 
idea for the sake of its probability ; they gather followers and pupils, and 
thus form a literary power ; their idea is finally worked out, exaggerated, 
and with a passionate impulse is forced upon society; hundreds and hun- 
dreds of noble-minded, reasonable people who w^ork in other spheres, de- 
siring to see their circle esteemed and dear to toe interests of daily life, 
can do nothing better or more reasonable than to leave to other investi- 
gators their free scope of action, and add their voice in the benefit of that 
business which does not concern them at all. This is termed the aniversaJ 
corroboration of the truthfulness of an idea i' " 



'% 




